Love, Red vs Blue Style
by BIG Z1776
Summary: Co-written with JuneFiction909. Takes place after Revelation except Washington went out on his own, Tex and Church survived, and Sister returns. When new recruits arrive in Valhalla both Red and Blue will have to adjust quickly to their new recruits and go after their arch nemesis. The freed Director of Project Freelancer, Doctor Leonard Church. Time to get the gang together.
1. Chapter 1

**Love, Red vs. Blue Style**

**My first fan fiction, tell me what ya'll think and I'll listen.**

**Disclaimer, I don't own RvB or any that kind of stuff. I just had an idea and went for it. So here it is.**

Chapter 1

Red Team

"Morning" in Valhalla was as it always has been, bright and sunny, much to the confusion of the local village idiots known as the Reds and Blues. On the Red side of the canyon the day started like any other day.

"Grif! Get up meat sack, morning run! Let's go Donut, and get those curlers out of your hair!" Sarge burst in, already wearing his standard red armor, which covered his stocky build, cold brown eyes, square rugged face that had numerous scars and sported a silver military style haircut

"I'll get 'em up sir," Simmons gladly offered. He was already up, his maroon armor covering his thin body and he had his helmet off not covering his thin face and black hair with his glasses over his brown eyes.

"Thanks Simmons, if Grif doesn't get up you have my permission to pour cold water on him. Wait scratch that, boiling hot water, hehe."

"Will do sir."

"Alright assholes I'm up!" Grif angrily groaned, sliding out of his cot and started to put his Orange armor on. His rather flabby but not fat build gave Sarge headaches and his soft facial features and long brown hair were according to Sarge, "unbecoming of a soldier."

"Grrr…" Sarge groaned.

"What's wrong Sarge? You wanted to pour that boiling water on him didn't you?"

"I had it set out to boil too."

"Hey Sarge how do you get up so early?" Donut asked, while gingerly unwrapping his tiny male hair curlers, "I mean, you're always ready to go so early and you hardly have time to get ready."

Donut's body was well trimmed but not intimidating in any way. His blonde hair was even more so, and his soft blue eyes had an almost feminine look to them.

"Not everyone uses the bathroom for half an hour brushing their eyebrows and lashes Donut!" Simons immediately responded.

"Hey, I have to take care of these lashes, and I don't understand why you guys don't let me brush your eyebrows and eyelashes," Donut huffed putting his hands on his hips defensively.

"Donut! We've been through this before, I don't want you touching me with that thing you call a brush!" Grif yelled, grabbing his helmet.

"Can it! I wanted you dirt bags outside two minutes ago!" Sarge bellowed over the argument.

"Why do you say that Sarge, 'two minutes ago' what the fuck does that mean?" Grif retorted, "Sir."

"It's just how we say things in the military, not that I would expect you to understand numb nuts." Sarge grumbled matter-of-factly, walking out of the room and grabbing his shotgun from next to his cot.

The rest of the Reds fell out one by one outside into the bright Valhalla morning sunshine. Once the last of them were assembled they started off on their usual route, with weapons magnetized to their backs. With Sarge zealously leading the way the Red team moved off at a steady pace, with Simmons keeping pace with Sarge, complimenting his stamina whenever he wasn't yelling at Grif to keep up, then there was Donut following ten yards behind Simmons and taking every opportunity to pick any flowers to his liking, and last there was Grif, in the back wheezing and panting, struggling to keep up much Sarge's discontent. They ran along the creek bed then turned halfway then circled back around the base of the cliff back to Red Base where they stopped to wait for Grif and then continued around while hugging the other cliff face and then turned back once they reached Tex's crashed ship and then down the hill back to the overhang over the creek and finished back at Red Base.

"Alright now men and Grif, let's eat breakfast then we have a staff meeting at 0900, be there."

Grumbles and low "yes sirs" came from the tired Red Team as they filed inside except for Sarge, who walked to the top of the base near the number 2 grav lift and zoomed in on the quiet Blue Base across the canyon that was just waking up. Sarge checked his mission clock as he saw a Cobalt armored soldier go to his own perch next to his grav lift and fired a single shot with a Sniper Rifle. As usual, the shot missed left and an inaudible series of curses emanated from the opposite side of the canyon.

"Better luck next time Blue!" Sarge yelled back.

Blue Team

"Hey fuck you Red! Caboose messes with this thing!" Church screamed back.

"Oh sure!" Sarge yelled back.

Church watched him disappear behind the hill into his own base, ending the daily encounter. Church grumbled under his breath and did the same walking down the ramp into his base where his team was already fixing breakfast. As usual, Caboose was trying to fix pancakes using manila folders thinking they were just dehydrated pancakes, but failing to do so Tucker was forced to stop him and heat up some MRE's for them. Tex was sharpening a knife in the corner instead of the usual gun cleaning. She had her helmet off, letting her shoulder length red hair spill onto her black armor and hiding her deep green eyes Church loved. Sister was still asleep with a hangover. Caboose's size made him all the clumsier adding to his stupidity. But his young face and sloppy brown hair hinted at his naïve attitude and easy-going nature.

"How far were you this time?" Tex taunted as soon as Church entered.

"Fuck off, and I made him flinch this time."

"Sure you did," Tucker, as always, piled on. He wore Teal armor that hid his dark skin and finely featured face and brown eyes.

"Church, I made pancakes for you, they caught on fire. Here," Caboose offered a plate of burnt paper with syrup extinguishing most of the flames.

"Caboose how many times do I have to tell you that pancakes are made from batter not fucking paper?" Church yelled.

Before Caboose could respond the radio began crackling from the corner.

"Come in Outpost 17-B, this is Command over."

"Great," Church groaned as he grabbed the radio mic," This is Blue Base, what do you want?"

"Stand-by for an important report Blue Base," the female voice said, annoyed.

"Standing by, as if I have anything better to do."

"What was that?"

"Uhh, nothing, go 'head Command."

"There's been a radiation leak at Outpost 13-B and we had to pull the Blues out of there and we decided to send them to your base, they'll be landing at exactly 1200 hours, over." The female voice said.

"Reinforcements? Hell yeah!" Church yelled out loud.

"Alright then, Command out," and the call quickly terminated.

Church turned around to see the whole kitchen staring at him, including Sister who had just gotten up and was standing in the entranceway wearing nothing but a tank top and panties with her blonde hair hanging everywhere it may be, which then attracted Tucker's attention. She was an almost exact copy of Grif except for her thin curvy frame and petite facial features. Church just couldn't hold in his excitement so he just blurted.

"Clean up guys we have some new recruits flying in today!" Church ordered, expecting to be taken seriously.

"So?" Tucker asked, "unless they have chicks I'm not doin' shit."

"I would assume so dumbass, knowing you, you'll need all the help you can get," Tex teased.

But as Tucker opened his mouth to answer base shook as a Pelican Dropship blazed overhead. The Blues dropped what they were doing and ran outside, and watched as a Pelican began descending with a massive Scorpion Tank slung underneath it.

"We get another tank, sweet!" Tucker whooped.

"But Sheila, she is all I need, I will never leave her!" Caboose pouted.

Their excitement lasted for all of ten more seconds as the Scorpion detached and the Pelican's bays opened up and out stumbled 5 Reds.

"OH COME ON WHAT THE FUCK?"

**What do you guys think? Please don't talk about length, that's just my style of writing. I am open to suggestions and I'm currently debating whether to give the Reds a Freelancer like the Blues.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's Chapter 2! I'll probably try and add a new chapter once a week at least, but on a good week I might reward you guys with a new chapter every day, depending on what kind of reviews I get. Enjoy.**

Chapter 2

Blue Team

"I've got this," Tex sighed and started at the Red's as they jumped off the Pelican after their Scorpion.

But as the Reds hopped off their Pelican Tex was shocked to see them begin to fall onto each other as the first pair to get off didn't move from their spot. The first four fell right in front of her and it was all Tex could do to hold in her laughter at seeing someone as inept as the normal Reds. But the fifth Red jumped over the tangled mass of arguing and cursing Reds and landed with a heavy _thud. _He was enormous, at least eight feet tall and sturdily built beneath his red and orange trimmed Mk. VI armor, probably bigger than the Meta was. He had an exceptionally rare SPARTAN Laser magnetized to his back and a pair of SMG's on his thighs. He stood before Tex putting himself between her and his inept team.

"Let's go big boy," Tex whispered and charged at him.

The big man assumed a lazy relaxed fight stance and stood calmly as Tex sprinted straight at him. She reeled her fist back and started to swing at the Red's visor but then, at the last minute, he did something that Tex never saw coming. Instead of moving to block her powerful punch the man simply sidestepped to Tex's right and held out his leg in a schoolyard move. But it was the exact right thing to use and Tex careened into the outstretched leg and began tumbling, smashing into the Scorpion's nose. Tex was furious, she leapt up onto her feet and lunged at the giant again, but instead of sidestepping he just lift a single gloved hand and grabbed Tex by her helmet and lifted her clean off the ground. Even at arm's length Tex couldn't reach his body with her legs. Then the Red began squeezing her helmet, she could feel the alloy stressing as he tightened his grip. Then Tex's helmet slipped and she dropped to the ground and looked up at the man still holding her helmet. But then something changed about him when he saw her face.

"Hey chill out cuz' I'm not gonna hurt you," the man said in a surfer's voice that Tex recognized instantly.

"There's only one man that is as big as you are, has armor like yours, and has your crazy way of seeing the world. Isn't that right, Hawaii?" Tex realized.

"In the flesh baby!" Hawaii held out his arms wide as if greeting a crowd of fans.

"God, it's good to see you. You old nut where've you been all these years?" Tex cheered, "and what are you doing with these losers?" pointing at the Reds who were just beginning to get up off the ground.

"Hey, like that's not cool, they're my friends. They helped me out of a jam and I've helped them out since. Wanna meet 'em?"

"Listen, I don't think this is the time for that so why don't you give me my helmet back and we can talk later."

"What, why not? The girls won't bite," Hawaii asked innocently.

"Because I'm a Blue, or I work with them. And let's just say that they wouldn't like it if they found out."

"Bummer, that would cast some serious negative waves on the day now wouldn't it?"

One of the Reds got up from the pile and saw Tex and immediately began yelling. But her comrades didn't bother listening.

"Hey hippy who's she? If she's a Blue I'll blow her brains out!" she yelled.

"Again with them negative waves Carpy, how many times do I have to tell you it's not good for the soul?" Hawaii groaned innocently, "Hey Liz, Lisa, come on now, no need to fight."

Tex watched Hawaii try and calm down the Reds who were still battling each other on the ground near where they had been dropped off. They wore Maroon and Orange and Orange and Maroon Mk. VI armor respectively and next to them were a pair of Assault Rifles and a few backpacks. The one that had noticed Tex was now being held back by Hawaii sported identical armor to that that Sarge wore except for some adjustments that were necessary for accommodating a girl's stature. She held onto a Shotgun with one hand and with the other she tried to escape Hawaii's grip. The last Red wore Pink and White armor with a Sniper Rifle on her back and then went ballistic once she saw their tank and the dent in the hull from when Tex hit it.

"Who the fuck dented Monty? Hippy if it was you I'll kill you."

Tex quietly turned around and walked back to her base and left Hawaii to sort out his mess. As she walked back the other Blues stood on top of the base, anxiously awaiting Tex's return. Church saw her coming and called out to her.

"What the Hell was that all about? And who the fuck was that?"

"He's a Freelancer, but don't worry he's harmless if you stay on his good side. But if you cockbites try and fuck with him he'll tear you a new one."

"Just great, the Reds get a tank and a Freelancer! This is just fuckin' perfect!" Tucker groaned.

"But the rest of them are actually girls Tucker."

"Say what?"

Red Team

Grif stood watch and saw the Pelican come down on the opposite side of the hill with its Scorpion in tow and then hover just below the hill separating them from Blue Base and then watched it take off. After a few minutes of thought he heard a loud diesel engine rev up and saw a Scorpion come rolling over the crest of the hill.

"Uh, Sarge we have a tank coming this way," he whined on the radio.

"What! Those dirty Blues, they're attacking us in the middle of breakfast! Diabolical."

"What do I do?" Grif asked, scared stiff as he watched the Scorpion come closer.

"Grif listen carefully, I want you to run at that tank as fast as you can and when it blows you to bits try lodge as many body parts into its treads and try and blind the driver with a spray of your own blood. That'll buy us enough time to get ready to counter-attack."

Grif decided to ignore Sarge as always, instead he aimed down the sight of his Battle Rifle and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Sarge, you won't believe this but…"

"Grif, why aren't exploding to save me?"

"Sarge they're Reds!" Grif yelled back, and actually earned silence.

"Are you sure?"

"Who else wears Red armor that isn't a Red?"

"Hmm…" Sarge grumbled, "That's too bad, I really wanted to see how many bits of you a single shot can make. But I guess I'll have to settle for this."

The Scorpion parked right in front of the base and off of it came five Reds, and to Grif's immense surprise, four were girls! As they dismounted the tank Sarge and the other local Reds walked out to meet the newcomers.

Grif could not pass up this opportunity to actually talk to a friendly girl so he ran down the ramp and joined his team. Sarge stepped forward and started the talking after an awkward few moments.

"Uhh, hello I'm Sarge, I'm the CO around here. And you are?" Sarge asked suspiciously.

One of the girls, the one in solid red armor, stepped forward and offered a hand in greeting to Sarge.

"I'm Corporal Carmen, nice to meet you. I guess this is Valhalla?" she said in what sounded like a Southern accent.

"Uh-huh," Sarge responded, shaking her hand.

"Alright then, I guess introductions are in order, this is my squad," she pointed to the orange girl," this is Liz," then she pointed to the maroon girl," and her twin sister Lisa," then she pointed to the one in pink," that's Kate, and that's," she pointed to a giant in red and orange armor.

"I'm Agent Hawaii, what's hangin' dudes?"

"Come on mate, do I have to introduce me self?" an Australian accented voice said from the tank.

"Shut up Monty I didn't forget you," Carmen growled.

"You have a smart tank?" Simmons asked, surprised.

"That's what he's supposed to be," the red one, Carmen, grumbled.

"Hey!" the pink girl shouted.

"Well he isn't very helpful!" the maroon one retorted.

"Says you!"

As a massive argument started the local Reds were dumbfounded watching what was essentially an exact copy of themselves. Soon the Freelancer was holding two of the Reds under his arms, trying to keep them from physically fighting, and was trying to calm down the pink and red girls who were at each other's throats. The entire time the local Reds stood by and just quietly watched, not really sure what to do.

"Anyone else feel a sense of déjà vu?" Simmons asked.

"No shit."

**That's Chapter 2. What do you guys think? I know this one isn't my best but trust me it'll pick up in the next few chapters. And you won't believe what kind of trouble these guys and gals will be goin' through so stick around.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well here's Chapter 3. Thanks for some real positive reviews, I really appreciate it. I'm feeling a hot streak comin' on so here we go fellas.** **Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

Red Team

The new Reds continued bickering amongst themselves, leaving Sarge, Grif, Simmons, Donut, and Lopez to watch awkwardly as the argument continued on with no end in sight.

"Sarge, what do we do?" Simmons asked.

"I don't know, I've never had girls under my command," Sarge simply replied.

"What do you do when we argue?" Donut asked.

"Donut this is a totally different situation here, guys act far different than girls in situations like this," Grif replied.

"Actually, Donut's right," Simmons corrected, "If these are soldiers they should know that when a superior officer says stop they should stop."

"Dude, they won't hear him over that!"

"But they will hear this…"

Sarge stepped forward and aimed his Shotgun skyward and pulled the trigger. The loud gunshot had the desired effect; the girls and Hawaii were quiet, looking at Sarge. Hawaii realized he was still holding Liz and Lisa and dropped them like a bag of bag bricks.

"What the fuck, that hurt!" Liz screamed

"Now can it girlies and listen up! I'm in command here and I hereby end this… uh…" Sarge slowed, trying to find the proper words to describe the situation before him.

"Catfight?" Simmons offered.

"Bitch-fit?" Grif added.

"Both of you shut it! Whatever that was there'll be no more of that, understood?"

The Reds grumbled and agreed.

"Now we don't have the facilities to accommodate your…uh… needs so for now you'll bunk down in the same room with us. We share everything; there are no special showers, bathrooms, or supplies for women so no belly-achin' got it?"

"Hey hold up there, we can't share rooms! It's against regulations!" the Red Corporal, Carmen, protested.

"Well I didn't ask did I little missy?" Sarge replied, stepping up to her face.

As soon as Sarge finished his sentence the girls began looking at each other fearfully and slowly backed away as Carmen began simmering with fury. She dropped her Shotgun and clenched her fists. Hawaii saw this and perked up, seeing Carmen building up to boiling over.

"Uh-oh, Sarge dude, you might wanna back away from Carpy, real slow-like."

"What? Why would I…"

_BAMM!_

Carmen ferociously launched herself at Sarge and landed a decisive right hook straight into his visor. Sarge reeled back, stunned by the sudden, ferocious blow and barely saw the next jab land in his gut. Sarge was reeling, physically and mentally. On one side, he was stunned that he had been outright attacked by a subordinate officer and a girl at that. But he was torn between not fighting a girl and defending himself against what he considered mutiny. Once the word _mutiny_ crossed his mind he knew what he was going to do. As Carmen began to lunge at him again, Sarge grabbed the butt of his weapon and sidestepped. Carmen missed and stumbled forward due to her own momentum, at that moment Sarge took his Shotgun and placed it across Carmen's gut and used his other hand to grab the muzzle and pulled her tight to his chest in a bear-hug. With her arms pinned Sarge lifted her clean off the ground.

"That's enough _Corporal_," he hissed in her ear. Turning to Simmons, "Take her to the brig, Simmons."

"But what if she gets loose and tries to kill _me_ Sarge?"

"Hmm… good point. Grif you do it," Sarge ordered, seeing another opportunity to get rid of Grif.

"Fuck this," he groaned.

"As for the rest of ya," Sarge began, pushing her to Grif, who grabbed a hold of her arms and began forcing her into their base, turning to the stunned newcomers, "unless you wanna join your CO you will follow Simmons to the barracks and get settled in."

"Whatever," the orange one, Lisa, grumbled under her breath.

The others grabbed their packs and followed Simmons into the base, giving Sarge the evil eye as they passed him. Except for Hawaii, who sat on the tank, waiting.

"Hey hippy, what're ya waitin' on? An invitation?" Sarge hollered.

"What about Monty man?" the Freelancer asked, "Where does he go?"

"Behind the base, next to the Warthog."

"Right on," Hawaii replied,"by the way bro, what you did to Carpy was not cool man. She's just a free spirit with issues about being called a dudette y'know?"

"She tried to attack me! She did attack me!"

"Oh yeah, then she probably earned that, but go easy on her dude," then Hawaii looked out at the ocean behind Red Base and became ecstatic, "No way, ocean front! Do you dudes get any good waves around here?"

The Freelancer reached to the opposite side of the tank and pulled out a large surfboard along with his own pack of gear.

"This is gonna be long day," Sarge groaned.

"Hey Sarge, I locked that bitch up in a cell," Grif came back out, "So now what?"

"Go help out Simmons, Lopez, come with me. I'm gonna have myself a talk with Corporal Carmen."

Blue Team

"So who's this guy Hawaii again?" Tucker asked.

"He's a Freelancer, like me. I'm pretty sure I explained this earlier dumbass," Tex groaned, annoyance in her voice.

The Blues were sitting on top of their base waiting for their own reinforcements. Tex sat on a fold out stool, leaning against the wall next to the middle grav-lift, with Church standing next to her looking at Red Base through his scope. Caboose and Sister were sitting next to each other against the mangled wall where Meta had smashed Doc so hard that he was stuck in it and had taken the wall with him when Meta and Wash had tried to pull him out. Tucker was sitting on a small box opposite of Tex prying for information about what she had seen of the new Reds.

"I know that, but specifically who is he? Does he have an A.I. or a special kickass super power? You know military stuff," Tucker pressed again.

"Fine, Hawaii was the very last Freelancer to be trained and deployed, so he never had an A.I. But, being the last, he was chosen to test a new prototype suit of armor that amplifies the wearer's strength tenfold. But, when the Director sent him, Wash, and me to go on a high risk mission into a rebel stronghold…well… let's just say we figured out why he made the Freelancer shrinks pull their hair out."

"What happened?" Church asked, looking down from his scope.

"The guy wouldn't fire the first shot! He was a happy go-lucky _surfer_ who had only volunteered for Freelancer because he was the only person big enough to operate the armor. We had to get the rebels to fire _right at him_! Then the guy went nuts, he tore them apart and leveled an entire building with his bare hands. After that, the Director sent him to work out his feelings at a Simulation Base and then he dropped off the grid six years ago. No one knew where he was, until now."

"So he's a hippy Freelancer with psycho super strength," Church summed up, "fuckin' awesome."

"Don't worry Church, I am very strong too," Caboose piped up.

"Yeah Caboose thanks, we know."

"That means I can protect you because you are my best friend and I won't let anything to you because you are my best friend. But Tucker would rather hang out with those Red girls because he is stupid."

"Shut up Caboose," Church groaned.

"Seriously Caboose shut the fuck up. But seriously, can we go introduce ourselves to those Red chicks?" Tucker replied.

"Tucker, those Reds would rather kill you than go out with you," Tex answered.

"Speaking of new girls or guys, when's our backup getting here?" Sister asked impatiently.

"They should be getting here pretty soon," Church replied, "Command said they'd be here at noon."

"Oooh, Church, Church, Church, Church, Church…" Caboose began stammering.

"What Caboose?"

"What if we get that pink girl on Red Team, Private Biscuit, to stand," he said getting up and walking just outside the base to a clear patch of grass, "right here? Then the ship will come and land on her."

"Caboose, that is wrong in like eight different ways. And besides, we're not that lucky," Church sighed.

Then, from out of nowhere, a shadow fell over Caboose and gradually formed in the shape of a Pelican. Then the roar of engines broke the calm and the ship, with a Warthog slung under it, began hovering over Caboose. But when Caboose finally looked up the Pelican's engines sputtered and died, and fell like a rock right on top of Caboose.

"Huh, maybe our luck has changed."

Then a voice from underneath the Pelican could be heard.

"Church they're here!"

"Why the fuck didn't I see that coming?" Church groaned.

The Pelican doors opened and out stumbled Caboose who then hit his head on the hanging Warthog. Then from inside the Pelican came four more Blues, one riding a Mongoose and all of them keeping their distance from Caboose.

"Hey I got the right base this time!" the pilot cheered from inside the Pelican as he began to take off.

The Blues began panicking as they yelled at the pilot to stop.

"Wait our Warthog!"

The Pelican detached the Warthog and then Church and the others watched as the Warthog landed right on top of one of the new Blues.

"Oh shit!" Church yelled, "Come on!"

The Warthog had fallen directly on top of a Blue in solid dark blue Mk. V armor. Her team mates stood next to the Warthog calmly as Church and the others ran up to them.

"It's fine don't worry, she's taken worse hits," a man in blue and green armor calmly said, cradling his Battle Rifle.

"But we still need to get her out from under there," Tex insisted.

"I'll do it," Caboose offered, walking up to the Warthog.

"Is that the guy we landed on?" another girl asked, who wore cobalt and dark blue Mk. VI armor, leaning on her Sniper Rifle.

"Yeah he's taken worse too."

Caboose grabbed onto the bottom of the Warthog and with one enormous effort he pushed it clean off the ground and onto its side. Caboose reached down to help her up with one hand and she took his hand and pulled herself up off the ground. She was silent and communicated with a series of hand signals to her team then to Caboose. Caboose was so entranced by her hand movements he let go of the Warthog just as Church walked right where the Blue had been trapped. The Warthog landed with a _CRASH_ and smashed Church viciously.

"_Dammit Caboose!_"

"What's she doing?" Caboose asked, "Ooh charades! Is it a donkey, no a squid, no a bird!"

"Actually she's communicating with her hands. It's called sign language Caboose," Tex corrected the idiot.

"No she's not. Signs are big and…"

"Is anyone gonna get this fucking car off of me?" Church yelled.

Tex went over and with Tucker's help they managed to pick up the Warthog just enough for Church to crawl out. The girl finished signing for her comrades and the girl in cobalt and dark blue armor translated for the silent girl.

"She says thank you for helping her out there."

"Well, before anything happens, I think we should introduce ourselves. I'm Church, I'm the leader around here, that's Tucker…"

"Yo."

"That's Tex…"

"Buenos dias cockbites."

"That was rude, that's Sister…"

"Hi."

"And this team-killing-fucktard is Caboose."

"Not my fault, Tucker did it."

"Shut up Caboose."

"Nice to meet you guys," the man began, "I'm Sergey, I was our leader back at our base, but we don't have an official CO, he kinda…"

"Exploded," the one in Teal and purple armor said, who by now was holding an Assault Rifle and a Magnum.

"Yeah, that's it. Anyway, this is our squad, the one in Teal is Jenny. The one in lightesh blue is Lea…"

"Sergey it's called cobalt for Christ's sake!"

"Whatever, and the indestructible one there is Rachel."

The dark blue soldier nodded to them as a greeting. She had grabbed a Shotgun from a pile of bags and weapons that had been offloaded in their haste to get off the Pelican, and a Magnum.

"So, I guess Command told you why we're here?" Sergey asked.

"Yeah we got the whole story, by the way, your Reds got here a couple hours ago," Tucker replied.

"Those bitches? Oh great!" Jenny groaned.

"Say Sergey," Tucker asked on the side, "how's it been hangin' with all these fine ladies?"

"What?"

"You know, have you gotten some?"

"You may want to keep your voice down man. These girls said they'd castrate me if I tried anything with any of them."

"What?" Tucker teased.

"Remember how I said our CO exploded? Well let's just say he tried to get a bit too touchy feely with Lea."

"Please I bet I could handle her."

"Oh, really?"

"I warned him," Sergey said, backing away.

"So, you think you're hot stuff huh?"

"Baby I know I am."

Lea's body language said it all, she was pissed. Before Tucker knew it, Lea dropped her Sniper Rifle and had assumed a fighting stance.

"Then prove it tough guy."

"Let's tango," Tucker accepted the challenge and tossed aside his own rifle.

"Dude, that's so fucking gay."

**I love cliff-hangars. Sorry to end it this way but I have to save some writing for the next chapter. So guys what will Tucker's and Lea's "tango" look like? What will Sarge's "talk" with Corporal Carmen turn up? Will there be enough beds to go around? Will Hawaii be able to catch some waves? And where's Washington? Find out in Chapter 4. Please R&R. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Well what can I say, I love writing. Here's Chapter 4. I would like some suggestions for how some of these characters are gonna hook up except for Sarge/Carmen and Caboose/Rachel who I have special plans for. But you guys won't believe the scale of trouble these characters are going to be in at the end of this chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Blue Team

Lea and Tucker were carefully looking each other over, in Lea's case she was trying to find a weakness, in Tucker's case he was checking out her ass. The others stood by and watched as the two combatants circled each other, waiting to see who made the first move. Lea made the first move, lashing out with a quick combo of punches aimed for Tucker's head. Tucker blocked most of them, except for the last left hook that caught him on his temple. Tucker couldn't let that stand, so he launched his own attack he flat out missed the first the blow as Lea ducked down but his second caught her square in her visor. She was reeling and stumbled back into a sitting position, but wasn't quite done yet. Tucker strode up before, gloating, but he forgot she could still use her legs.

"Still think you're able to take this," Tucker taunted.

"Oh yeah," Lea hissed.

Lea lashed out with one simple deft kick, straight up. The male members of the audience cringed at the sickening blow and Tucker curled up into a fetal position and collapsed onto the ground, writhing in pain. Satisfied, Lea got up and dusted herself off and grabbed her stuff. Her female team-mates shrugged and followed her. Tex stepped forward and talked to the new girls.

"I have a feeling you and I will get along just fine," Tex grinned beneath her visor.

"Yeah, that was kinda hot," Sister added.

The girls walked inside, talking about how the guys had always been wimps and how Tex usually beat them up once a week. Sergey and Church walked over and helped Tucker to his feet. Church was split between feeling sorry for a fellow guy and team-mate or laughing at him for getting his butt kicked, or balls kicked as the case may be.

"I told you, these girls can go total bitch mode if you don't show treat them as soldiers," Sergey taunted the groaning Tucker.

"Damn Tucker, sorry to state the obvious but you just got your ass kicked," Church happily said to him.

"Funny, but I could have sworn that it was my balls that got kicked," Tucker replied, trying to at least stand up straight.

"Hey guys! Your radio's buzzing!" Jenny called from inside the base, "Some guy named Washington wants to speak with you."

"Tucker come on," Church said, taking off for the base.

"Alright, fine, as soon as my balls drop."

Church, Caboose, and Sergey ran inside to receive the radio call. They walked in to see the entire group hovering around the radio. Church stepped forward and grabbed the mic and spoke into it.

"Wash, this is Church are you there?"

"_Yeah_," came the scratchy reply.

"Agent Washingtub! This is your friend Caboose, how are you?"

"Shut up Caboose."

"_Guys listen very carefully, this is important. Remember the Director?"_

Red Team

Sarge walked into the modified storage room that now housed the Red Team's only prisoner. Corporal Carmen. Behind him was Lopez, who stood outside the door as Sarge approached the disgruntled young woman. Sarge had magnetized his Shotgun to his back and stood calmly in front of her. She had her helmet off and allowed her perfectly regulation-length honey blonde hair to hang from a tight ponytail. She had a small scar on her left jaw and another minor one on the very edge of her pink lips. Her grey eyes were staring at Sarge behind a lock of hair.

"Any reason why you attacked me, Corporal?" Sarge began.

"I just lost control, I just don't like being called things like 'little missy' or 'girly.' That's why I joined the military, to get away from being called that."

"Hmm… I see," Sarge grumbled, taking off his helmet, "But, you still struck a superior officer."

"I know, that's why I'm a Corporal! It's not the first time I've done that. Sir just…. just don't report me, if I get reported for one more assault on an officer I'm screwed."

Something in Sarge changed, normally he wouldn't have hesitated, but this young Corporal before him had something about her that he found appealing. Maybe because she was a loyal soldier, or maybe it was how her eyes looked into Sarge's own eyes and some form of connection was made between them. But he didn't hesitate when he said his next words.

"Carmen, get off your ass and get settled in," he said to her holding out his hand.

She looked up at him and smiled and took his hand and pulled herself up. As she was about to put on her helmet she quietly whispered to Sarge.

"Thank you."

The two of them walked out into the hall and down to the barracks where the others were getting settled in. Grif was talking with the twins about the daily routine with Liz and Lisa while Donut was trying to talk about the latest fashions with Kate who had been more than happy to talk about it. Meanwhile Simmons was bringing in spare cots for their new arrivals.

"I see everyone's getting along here," Sarge said to the group.

"Yes sir," Donut called, "I was talking to Kate about the newest fashions and how they got their tank Monty."

Kate nodded; she had her helmet off too, allowing her almost white hair to spill a little past her shoulders and over her blue eyes. She was very much a girly girl, she had mascara on, and pink lipstick, although how she got that stuff was a mystery.

Liz and Lisa looked very much alike; Liz had her hair cut short so that her red hair was just past her ears as compared to Lisa who just let her curly hair grow to about her shoulders. They both had light brown eyes and the exact same proportions.

Hawaii was just relaxing against the wall, his helmet off. He had classic surfer's hair, long and golden blonde. His face was rugged and handsome with piercing blue eyes, and his white teeth were showing in a crooked smile. But Sarge's examination ended as he heard someone caliing him.

"Sarge!" Simmons called from the kitchen where the Reds had a radio, "Come here quick."

Sarge, turned his attention to the kitchen and hustled into it with the others not far behind. Simmons was at the radio with an all-too-familiar voice on the radio.

"Sarge, its Washington!" Simmons said.

"What's he talking about?" Sarge demanded.

"Hard to know for sure sir but it definitely looks like he's asking the Blues for help."

"Help? Why would Wash ask for their help?" Grif asked.

"_Guys listen very carefully, and Reds I know you're listening so here it is. The Director has escaped with the help of what's left of Project Freelancer and has gotten away. We believe they are working with a Rebel Group on the Planet New Solstice, and I need your help,"_ the radio buzzed.

"So why would you ask for our help?" Simmons inquired into the radio.

"_Because you're the last people I could call, the UNSC has just ignored the warnings I've given them and said take care of it yourself. But I do have a ship, a small one, on lease to me from the Chairman who wants the Director returned quietly. You guys are not counted as active duty soldiers on the roster and wouldn't arouse suspicion if you went missing to go on a mission. I also figured you guys would like a chance to finish what you started. So are you in?_" Washington asked.

"_Count us in_," the Blues' radio responded.

"We'll do it," Sarge answered.

"_Thanks guys. Wash out_."

The new Reds looked at Sarge curiously and their faces said it all.

"It's a long story. You see we're the one's responsible for helping to put the Director of Freelancer in jail. So you can see why with him being free would be a cause for concern. So it's up to you whether or not you come help us," Grif said to them.

"I'll go, if it means getting' back at the people who stuck us here then count me in," Carmen said.

"Us too," the others agreed.

"Radical, road trip!" Hawaii boomed.

"When will Wash be here?" Donut asked.

Just as Donut finished his sentence the air shook as a massive shadow covered the canyon. They all rushed outside and were astonished to see a massive UNSC Frigate hovering overhead.

"I thought he said a small ship?"

**Well that's Chapter 4. You can see where I'm going with the relationships in this story. I know this Chapter was pretty slow but next Chapter is where some action is going to occur. I'll be taking a few themes from Halo 3 ODST for when the gang gets into the action so thanks for reading everyone. Please review. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Well I know it's taken a while for me to update but this should make up for me being late with the update. So without further delay here's Chapter 5.**

Chapter 5

Red Team 

The Reds stood in awe as the massive warship hovered over their heads. No one among them had ever seen a UNSC Frigate and couldn't help but stand there amazed at what they were seeing. As they were watching the ship, a pair of doors opened on the underbelly of the ship and two Pelican drop ships flew out and angled towards Valhalla.

"Oy, Pelicans incoming," Monty called over to them.

"Yes Monty thanks for stating the obvious," Liz groaned at the tank.

The Pelican drew closer and slowed down above the Reds and their base while the other Pelican flew on towards Blue Base. The large vessel turned gently and touched down behind the base and idled as the rear hatch hissed open and revealed the ship's pilot. A scrawny man in olive green armor with a full helmet that covered his face and a sunglasses style black visor provided the man a way to see. The pilot looked at the Reds and took off his helmet, revealing an almost teenager-like face with a messy knot of brown hair and brown eyes with a crooked grin on his face.

"Yo, rojo amigos. What's shakin' dudes?" the man greeted them.

"Vic? Is that you?" Sarge asked, puzzled.

"Yeah dude, listen that dude Washington's in a bit of a hurry so we gotta hit the road. But first we need to hitch up to your vehicles."

"Oh right, come on men, let's go."

The Reds immediately ran to their vehicles of choice, the girls going to their tank and the boys to their Warthog and a Mongoose. Donut drove the Mongoose into the bay of the Pelican while the others readied their vehicles.

"What? No way love, you're not latching me to another one of those," Monty protested against his operators.

"Monty, it's either that or we leave you here to rust!"

"Good point, just tell that blighter to fly straight!"

The tank rolled slowly forward until he was directly under the Pelicans grappling hook and locked himself down as the large hook descended. The turret latched shut with solid bars of Titanium-A threading their way inside the turret and twisting themselves into place to be sure the turret was secure. Other automatic mechanisms locked the drive nacelles into place and Monty was all set. The Reds piled into the Pelican's bay and strapped themselves into the uncomfortable seats. Vic lifted off the ground and carefully brought the Pelican into hover above the Warthog and a secondary magnetic grappling cable descended and latched onto the Warthog's hull and reeled it up under the Pelican and was secured by a pair of hooks that clamped down on the Warthog and held it securely against the hull.

"Alright dudes, let's go. Next stop, big-ass-ship," Vic chimed over the intercom.

"Vic, how are you here? I mean we thought you were in jail after Freelancer was busted," Simmons asked shuddering in his seat.

"Long story dude, I was actually transferred to some little outpost. Nothing much to talk about really," Vic responded.

As the Pelican slowed to enter the open hangar bay of the Frigate the Reds let out a sigh of relief that they hadn't repeated their last trip inside a Pelican. The ship touched down, after dropping the Reds' vehicles roughly, and the hatch opened revealing another face that the Reds had not seen in a long time. His purple armor was a dead giveaway and the Reds groaned as he cheerfully greeted them.

"Hey guys, long time no see. How you doin' what's new?" Doc asked as the Reds filed out of the Pelican.

"Hey Doc."

"Hey, new recruits. I'm Medical Officer Duffragne, Wash picked me up as the chief medical officer for the mission."

"Wassup cuz, I'm Agent Hawaii, what's hangin' bro?" Hawaii greeted Doc.

"Hi, I'm Corporal Carmen, this is Liz, Lisa, and Kate," Carmen introduced herself and her team.

The hangar really wasn't that big but it was big enough to hold two more Pelicans on clamps on the ceiling with spots for two more. There was a row of vehicle holding docks with complete robotic arms to do maintenance. A pair of Warthogs was already there with a crane carrying the Reds' Warthog to it at the moment. Monty was already on his way there, he rolled to a large platform and backed himself onto it and was practically assaulted by a multitude of robotic arms as the ship's dock-master AI began to do a systems check of the 70-ton tank.

"Now this ship knows how to treat a tank!" Monty bellowed.

The girls groaned at Monty's smug outburst and looked around along with everyone else. A familiar voice called on the intercom in the hangar announcing that Agent Washington was about to enter the hangar.

"_Attention, all personnel clear the deck, Pelican on approach_," the smooth voice of the former Freelancer AI, FILLS, called out. Much to the surprise of the Reds.

The Reds turned to see the second Pelican fly into the hangar and drop off the Blues' tank, Sheila and their Warthog. The Pelican glided over to the last empty landing pad in the hangar and touched down gently. A crane descended on the Warthog and picked it up as Sheila powered up and instinctively rolled to the other empty tank platform. As the Reds watched the spectacle the Pelican's hatch opened and out walked the Blues.

"The Blues!" Carmen yelled, "Get them!"

The new Red girls were about to charge when a man dressed in Black and Yellow armor walked in front of the Blues.

"Hold it, stand down!" Wash ordered forcefully.

The Red girls were hesitant at first but stopped as ordered, though they continued eyeing the Blues suspiciously. Washington stepped forward and spoke loudly to the gathered Simulation Troopers.

"Listen up, I'm Agent Washington…"

"Wash! Is that you bro?" Hawaii boomed at the sudden realization.

"Uhh… do I know you?" Washington babbled.

"You mean you don't recognize me? It's me, Hawaii," he said, stepping toward Wash.

"Oh dear god…" Washington grumbled as Hawaii grabbed him in a powerful bear hug.

"Man where've you been?"

"Can't…breathe…let go!"

Hawaii dropped Washington and stepped back to let him recover his breath. So Wash stood straight and looked around at the gathered Reds, Blues, and Freelancers and continued from where he had left off before being crushed by Hawaii.

"Okay as I was saying, welcome to the _UNSC Misfit._ We have an important mission to do, and unfortunately I had to choose you."

"Hey," Simmons interrupted.

"Wait, who the fuck names a ship _Misfit_?" Lea asked confused.

"Quiet, if we're going to at least live through this mission we're going to need to set up some ground rules. First off, I'm in charge, second, no more Red and Blue fighting, third, every one of you will go through training on the way to the target."

There was a series of groans and mumbles at the word training. None of them wanted to go through more work. But Tex was quick to ask.

"When do we start?"

"How 'bout now?" Wash grinned.

"Hold on a minute there," Sarge interrupted, "Where's the other crewmembers?"

"We're it, all we need is a single AI to run the major systems."

"Come on, training floor's this way cockbites," Tex said to the others walking out of the door.

"_All personnel prepare for escape acceleration,_" the ship AI called over the intercom.

"Is that FILLS?" Tucker asked.

"_Yes, hello Private Tucker_."

The others followed Tex out of the hangar and were immediately arguing about who would beat who in the training floor.

Blue Team

Church could have cared less about having to train, being him. The others were much the same way except for Sergey who actually seemed to show some pride in being a soldier. The two teams, as always, began bickering amongst themselves about who would be better in the training. None of them had any real skill to speak of, but Tex was about to change that.

As the two arguing teams reached the training floor the massive room lit up and showed a large blank floor with a high ceiling and a large window above the floor for observers. Tex had them drop their weapons at the door onto tables grudgingly so no one accidentally killed anyone.

"Alright, first off, we're going to have a hand-to-hand session. It'll be Reds versus Blues, one on one so that I can see what I have to work with."

Sarge immediately stepped forward to accept the challenge for Red Team. No one from Blue Team stepped forward initially, but after a few seconds Tex picked someone for them.

"Church get the fuck out here, I need to see this."

"Fine, blood thirsty bitch," Church groaned.

"Let's see what you've got Blue," Sarge taunted.

"Alright, first person to hit the ground loses," Tex called out for all to hear.

"_Round begin in 5…4…3…2…1 round begin_," FILLS calmly said.

"Sheila?" Caboose asked to the ceiling.

"No Caboose it's…"

_BAMM_

Sarge threw a single punch and sent Church stumbling backwards into the other Blues and fell with a thud. Dazed by the blow, Church got back up to see Tex shaking her head in disappointment.

"Dammit Caboose you distracted me!"

"Sorry Church, here I will go next," Caboose offered.

"Fine, just don't hit me," Church grumbled.

"Donut, you're up," Sarge ordered.

"Yes sir," he responded.

The two fools stood opposite each other and waited for FILLS to start them off. When the countdown ended neither one of them did anything to speak of. They both just stood there. Church groaned and yelled out to Caboose.

"Caboose he's on your team, you should _help him_."

"Okay!"

Caboose ran at Donut and everyone was astonished to see Donut start running in circles screaming at the top of his lungs as the giant Blue idiot chased after him. Finally, Caboose grabbed Donut and then surprisingly threw him straight at the observation deck with enough force to kill someone if they hadn't been wearing armor.

_CRASH_

Donut went clean through the glass and slammed into the wall inside the room. A pair of figures stood there shocked at what just happened.

"That was the worst fight ever, of all time."

"Blarg!"

**That's right, Vic and Junior are back! This time imagine him as a full grown Elite Zealot in Teal armor. I'm sorry it took so long to update but I'm almost finished with the sixth chapter on paper at least so it shouldn't take me near as long to update this next time around. As always, please review and tell me what you think. **__


	6. Chapter 6

**Man, I'm pumped for this Chapter! I'm in a fairly good mood, because guess who got accepted to Texas A&M at Galveston? Anyway, back to what actually matters, for ya'll anyway, I've worked pretty hard on this Chapter and so it'll be quite a bit longer than the previous Chapters. I will be mostly action oriented in the following Chapters and there'll be some action hinted at during this Chapter. But because I don't write very good romance I would like to ask someone who does write romance to send me a PM and help me out. Seriously, I'm asking for someone to help me write the actual romantic scenes. But hey, here's Chapter 6 all the same. Enjoy!**

**Also, I'll be giving times and dates in the introduction for which teams at the beginning of each new POV**

**Thank you for the great Reviews everyone, I don't know if they want me to name them but I would just like to sound genuinely thankful and say thanks to all those who have taken the time to Review.**

Chapter 6

UNSC _Misfit _

1130 Hours 

4/18/2570

Blue Team

The entire training floor looked up at Caboose's latest handy-work, in the form of a large shattered window on the observation deck. Washington and Junior both were looking down at the Reds and Blues in shock at what Caboose had done to poor Donut who was getting up shakily, using the counter to hold himself steady. Tucker was ecstatic at seeing his alien son and was trying to find a way up to the observation deck to give the alien a hug.

"Tucker!" Tex yelled at him, "Training hasn't ended, you're up next."

"But…"

"Get out here dumbass!" Church yelled back at the Teal soldier.

"Fine, let's get this over with," Tucker grumbled.

Tucker walked into the center of the floor where Simmons was waiting for him. With the signal from FILLS both soldiers charged each other. With the encouragement, if you call Sarge yelling pointers and Grif doing nothing encouragement, of the Reds, Simmons was more than distracted. In fact, when Sarge complimented Simmons on a good punch, Simmons turned around to say his obvious thanks.

"Thank you…OW the back of my head!"

Tucker whacked Simmons in the head then kicked him in the back of his right knee. Simmons' leg buckled and he collapsed to the floor as Tucker continued to throw punches. Then just like that the round ended. Tex showed no emotion whatsoever and simply stood there with her arms crossed and called out the next pair of fighters.

The Reds were not too happy at losing two rounds in a row and Sarge openly voiced his displeasure.

"Dammit, come on Red Team!" Sarge bellowed, "Don't let those dirty Blues beat us! Remember your training, Grif get out there and try not to embarrass yourself too much."

"Who says I have to?"

"My boot…"

_BAMM_

Grif walked out into the ring to face his sister in the ring rubbing his butt after being rather viciously kicked by Sarge.

"Come on Sister!" Tucker yelled out to his team-mate.

"Alright big brother I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Oh FUCK THAT! I've had it!"

Grif was quite miffed by this threat and for the first time since childhood he actually made a concerted effort to fight his sister. Grif charged his sister and actually showed a semi-rudimentary understanding of how to fight as he began wailing on Sister. Sister had no chance and fell to the ground after only throwing a few slaps at her brother.

"Okay, you know what," Tex groaned, "I think it's safe to say that I'm gonna have to start from scratch with you dumbasses."

"_I don't need to train, I'm a robot,_" Lopez protested.

"You're right Lopez, we could all use some refreshments," Donut responded.

"_Idiot_," Lopez groaned.

Tex immediately got to work, she had the Reds and Blues pair up with each other, a Red with a Blue. The first thing she had them learn was how to stand properly in a fighting position. This proved to be difficult, even with the help of Hawaii, Sarge, Sergey, and Washington. Sergey, as it turned out was a former Marine, and had a firm understanding of how to fight but he was still rusty and only required a few pointers from the Freelancers. Sarge was rather useful, he was once an ODST, but after detailing how he had developed a fear of heights and had shown delusional tendencies in battle had been thrown into Red Army. The biggest pains to deal with were, by far, Caboose, Grif, Sister, the Red twins (who simply fought each other endlessly), and Lea (who proved to be quite insubordinate). But to the apparent surprise of the Freelancers (and the readers I'm sure) the Reds and Blues, and even Junior, took to the training very well and made genuine progress, albeit slow.

Next came standard moves like jabs, punches, knees, kicks, etc. By the time Wash and Tex decided to call it a day they had had to break up over a dozen individual quarrels, four Red on Blue fights, and countless arguments. The training had taken four and a half hours to end and they were all very tired.

"Alright everyone," Washington called out to the gathered Simulation Troopers, "good job today, but we're far from where we need to be. From now on, the schedule will go as follows: at 0500, wake-up call and breakfast. At 0530 you'll all be training in here until 0930. Then at 1030 you will go through more training until 1130 where you'll eat lunch. At 1300 we'll…"

"Let me guess, train?" Grif interrupted.

"I see you know how the schedule works then Grif," Washington snapped back in a fake friendly tone.

"How long will we be doing all of this fuckin' training?" Church asked.

"We have two days until we arrive at the UNSC Orbital Station _Camelot._"

"What nerdy name," Lea whispered to Jenny.

"From there we'll have a good three days until we're over New Solstice and the real mission."

"Okay Wash slow down a little," Tucker said, "you never told us the exact mission."

"Uh, yeah I did."

"Like hell you did," Grif protested.

"Can it dirt bag before I shoot you in the face," Sarge growled at Grif.

"Enough! Fine, I'll tell you again. We are all here to go and arrest the Director. He's escaped from jail with the help of what's left of Freelancer."

"Who got him out?" Tex asked.

"Intel says that it was Alaska, Colorado, Montana, and twenty others. All of them Agents, but they also have the support of a group of Insurrectionists operating out of New Solstice."

"Wait, we're going against over twenty Freelancers?" Church yelled.

"And Insurrectionists."

"Fuck me," Lea groaned.

"Bow chicka bow wow," Tucker whispered.

"Do you want me castrate you?" Lea snapped back at him.

"Blarg!" Junior roared, stepping between his father and the pissed off Lea.

Junior was no longer the small baby that everyone had remembered back in the day. He had grown to a staggering seven and half feet tall and now proudly wore the armor of an Elite Zealot with its ornate headpiece and intimidating armor. He held two Energy Swords like the one Tucker carried and knew how to use them. So behind Tex and Wash he was now the deadliest member of Blue Team.

"Alright that's enough alien dude," Hawaii soothed the Elite.

"I think we should break for lunch before something else happens," Tex offered.

"Agreed, follow me, the Mess Hall's this way. After lunch Vic, Doc and I will show you to your rooms," Washington led the way out.

"_You realize that I'm a robot and can't eat right?"_ Lopez said in his monotone voice.

The tired bunch eagerly followed Washington out of the training floor and into the ship. On the way they passed storage rooms, armories, barracks, a gym, locker rooms, briefing rooms, and Doc's own medical bay. Finally, they reached the Mess Hall, and Grif was, go figure, the first one into line. The buffet had everything, even Sarge had to compliment that he liked what he saw. There was everything from every food group in abundance, and the weary soldiers grabbed their fill of what they wanted. But, FILLS wouldn't let them leave the line without a proper helping of all the proper food groups. Whenever someone tried to get out of the line to sit down without all the proper foods FILLS would send their armor into lockdown and force them back into line to get the required nutrients.

On one occasion Caboose only got a plate of cookies and FILLS had to repeatedly lock down his armor until Rachel came to the rescue and politely dragged Caboose over to the beginning of the line and forcefully put the needed foods onto Caboose's plate.

"But I don't want broccoli, it's green and gross and I don't like it," Caboose whimpered as Rachel scooped some steamed broccoli onto his plate.

Rachel just shook her head and continued down the line with Caboose in tow. She and Caboose had become pretty close friends after Caboose had lifted a Warthog off of her then proceeded to drop it on Church. This hadn't gone unnoticed and as the Blues sat down together they watched with curiosity as Rachel continued to shepherd Caboose through the line.

"Say, what's his story any way?" Sergey asked Church and Tucker as he watched Caboose get silently reprimanded for trying to sneak out of the line by Rachel.

"Oh him?" Church responded, "He's just an idiot. He's been our own little team-killer, you see, Caboose there killed me once, well more than once."

"Not my fault, Tucker did it."

"Shut up Caboose, anyway, he's also had a few AI's infect him now and again but that happens periodically anyway."

"What about her, what's her name again?" Tucker asked.

"Rachel?" Lea asked, "She's our vehicle expert. If you're asking about why she can't talk she was born with it. That's why she's a Simulation Trooper. Although I must say, I've never seen anyone grow on her like Caboose has, and they've just met."

"She might get killed by him," Church muttered.

"Oh no, she is indestructible. Nothing can kill that girl. Right Jenny? Jenny?" Lea asked her comrade.

Jenny hadn't said a word the entire time, instead, she found herself staring at Washington. He had his helmet off, revealing a rugged handsome face with chocolate brown eyes that matched his shaggy hair and had a slight gray line on his sideburns. She was so entranced by him that she didn't notice that the entire table was now looking at her. Noticing this she blushed behind her brunette hair that hung over her face and turned her gray eyes back to her plate. All the Blues had their helmets on the table. Sergey had a rather well trimmed goatee of black hair that matched his hair that was trimmed to perfect military length. His brown eyes showed a serious yet humble expression that dated back to his youth. Lea had her helmet off as well, letting her long red hair hang past her shoulders. She looked a lot like Tex but had a darker green iris than Tex's. Rachel, who by now was seated next to Caboose, had her medium length blonde hair in a tight pony tail and was just sitting there smiling as Caboose picked at his now healthy plate of food.

"_Attention, all personnel, prepare for slip space jump_," FILLS called on the loudspeaker.

"_That means buckle up dudes_," Vic added on the speaker.

UNSC _Misfit _

1730 Hours 

4/18/2570

Red Team

As the _Misfit_ made the jump the Reds decided to sneak out of the Mess Hall to look around the ship. They split up into groups, Sarge and Corporal Carmen along with Lopez went one way and Grif, Simmons, Liz, and Lisa went another way while Donut and Kate made their way down to the hangar to check on their vehicles.

Sarge and Carmen immediately struck up a conversation while Lopez quietly stayed behind them.

"So how long have you been in the Army?" Sarge asked Carmen.

"Red Army, or just the military in general?"

"In general."

"Well, I've been a soldier now for ten years, how 'bout you sir?"

"Thirty-two," Sarge immediately answered.

"Wow, how long were you in Red Army?"

"Twenty-five."

"Seven years as an ODST, what was it like?"

"Hmm… it was different. Although the pay sucked and the officers were completely disorganized. And I was allergic to heights."

"But the ODST's dropped out of ships from orbit?"

"How do you think I developed that fear? That shit was crazy."

"_So are you, you stupid old man_," Lopez interrupted.

"You're right Lopez I did need a career change."

"_Why the fuck do I bother_?"

Meanwhile, the other group was finding its way to their rooms under FILLS's direction.

"So you two are twins?" Simmons asked, trying to break the ice.

"Yeah, sure are, although it can be a pain in the ass sometimes," Liz responded.

"What? We are not pains for each other."

"When you are constantly trying to find work for us that I don't want to do that's when it becomes a pain."

"Hmph, kiss-ass here is the same way," Grif responded.

"Shut up Grif, you just don't ever do anything anyway," Simmons snapped back.

"Exactly, so who won?"

"Who won? That makes no fuckin' sense!"

"It does to me Simmons, it does to me," Grif coolly responded.

"Here-here!" Liz cheered him on.

The four of them kept walking along as they explored the ship and finally found their rooms and took a look at them. Their rooms were all in the officer's section of the ship because there was no one else to take the rooms so they all had their own bed, closet, desk, computer, and chair. FILLS had already taken the liberty of marking their rooms with their names on the electronic labels on the automatic doors so they knew who's room belonged to who.

As soon as Simmons finished taking in his room he walked back outside into the hallway and heard Grif snoring in his room already.

"Typical."

In the hangar Donut and Kate had found themselves talking to Monty and Sheila about their old adventures. It turned out the two teams had very similar experiences with Project Freelancer. Donut and Kate were their teams' respective rookies and were both very easy to get along with each other. They bragged about which tank had the most kills and as it turned out Monty was brand new and had yet to see any real action unlike the experienced Sheila, who had been responsible for a lot of misery for the Reds and Church.

Everyone seemed to be getting along fine. But it was only Day 1 for the Reds and Blues.

**Wow, that was long! As you can see the Reds and Blues and Freelancers are going up against some tall odds. I'll give you guys an exact number of Freelancers here and say twenty-seven. So yeah, I guess you can see where the relationships are leading to and yes I finally remembered to have Lopez actually speak. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this Chapter, and I'll start working on the next one ASAP. As always, Reviews are greatly appreciated and to be honest the more reviews I get the more I want to write. I just had an idea to give everyone a "Next Chapter Preview" at the end of each Chapter so here's my first of hopefully many. Well thanks for reading everyone.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Angry Caboose vs. Angry ODSTs**


	7. Chapter 7

**Big Z: I'm back, this time with help. I'd like to give a real big "thank you" to JuneFiction909 for helping me to write the actual romantic parts of this Chapter. Now I know that June will want to say hi. **

**June F: Hello People!**

**Tex: ANOTHER Red vs. Blue fic June?**

**June F: Yes, and shut your face!**

**Grif: *comes in with a couple of beers* Anyone want one?**

**Everyone: Me!**

**June F- *opens one* Yep, this is going to be goooood~!**

**Big Z: So yeah here's Chapter 7, enjoy.**

Chapter 7

UNSC _Misfit_

1845 Hours

4/20/12

Red Team

"_Docking clamps secure. Beginning airlock mating procedures_," FILLS's calm voice boomed on the loudspeakers.

"Bow chicka bow wow."

"Okay, does everyone know what they've gotta do?" Washington asked to the gathered Reds, Blues, and Freelancers.

"Yes mom," Grif groaned.

"Can it dirt bag."

"I know I don't have to tell you idiots that is a military facility and if you fuck up here our mission is scrubbed," Wash shot back.

"We know what to do Wash," Sarge replied, "While you, Tex, Hawaii, Church, and Jenny are getting our intel the rest of us grab what we can from the supply warehouse for the mission."

"And we stay here and guard the ship," Donut called.

"Blarg!"

Donut, Kate, Doc, Junior, and Vic had volunteered to stay with the ship while the others went onto the station.

"Okay then. FILLS, we good to go?" Wash asked the AI.

"_Affirmative_."

"Alright, here we go. Open up the hatch FILLS."

The thick Titanium airlock hissed open and revealed the group's first look at the massive Space Station known as the _Camelot._ A short walkway into the interior of the station stood before them as they walked in with the Freelancers in the lead. A large pad with a series of scanners on the sides was directly in front of them guarded by a trio of armored UNSC Marines holding their Assault Rifles tight as they watched the large procession approach them. One stepped forward and halted the group of soldiers.

"Excuse me sirs, I'm going to have to ask you place your weapons here," the Private motioned to a conveyor belt on the side that passed through a scanner where one of the Marines stood attentively, "Then once you pass through the Security Scanners you can reclaim them."

"Why in Sam Hill do I need to give you turds my Shotgun?" Sarge challenged the Marine.

"Sir, those are my orders. But if you must know the reason we scan your weapons is to identify whether or not these weapons are in regulation condition, where they came from, or are stolen military property."

"Fine, but keep your mitts off my Shotgun," Sarge grumbled.

Wash placed his BR, Magnum, and his Freelancer Bowie Knife on the belt and walked onto the scanner and simply walked on past without incident. Tex took a bit longer, she had to deposit her BR, a Magnum, two SMG's, three grenades, a block of C-10 High Explosive, a pair of knives, and brass knuckles. The Marines gawked at the amount of death that she was able to inflict with all that gear and kept their space from Tex as she walked on past the Scanners. The others except Sarge and Caboose made it through without incident. Caboose had to be walked through the whole process numerous times before he stopped trying to walk past the scanners with his weapons and Sarge's Shotgun had to be wrestled away from him by the Marines. But, at last, the group had managed to make it into the facility and gathered around.

"Listen up, we're gonna meet back here in twenty minutes and load up our supplies and equipment," Wash ordered the soldiers, "Don't try and fuck anything up, Reds."

"Hey, don't look at us. You said we could break shit," Simmons retaliated.

"What?" Liz asked.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything on the way," Grif said.

"Come on men, to the warehouse deck," Sarge lead the way away from the Freelancers, Church and Jenny.

"Alright, the Comm Center's this way," Wash started, "come on."

The place was enormous, the Freelancers and Blues were just one group of many that was in the station. Hundreds of Fleet personnel, Marines, ONI, and ODSTs walked through the large open corridor that conjoined the many UNSC warships docking at the facility. In their rather colorful armor they were given a wide berth and were the subject of quite a few stares and whispers as they walked through the facility to where they needed to be.

"Are those Freelancers? I thought they were all in jail."

"So the rumors of a Civil War between Red and Blue were true."

"How'd those guys get Mk. VI armor?"

The group simply walked on until they followed Wash into a smaller corridor where a few doors and MPs were. They walked past the MPs and went into a small room where a few other monitors were idling in standby. There was no one there and when Wash walked into the adjoining room in the back they were in front of a much larger view screen with the picture of the UNSC emblem on it with a light blue background. A single ONI officer was waiting there for them and once they walked in he pressed a few buttons on the console and left.

"What was his problem?" Church half asked.

"He was making sure we had absolute secrecy for this call," Tex groaned.

"Enough, he's listening now," Wash silenced them.

"You're quite right Agent Washington. Hello, I don't know if we've met, I'm the Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee overseeing Project Freelancer."

"Or what's left of it," Church shot back.

"Church!" Tex growled.

"Church? As in Leonard Church?" the Chairman asked, his voice all they had to go by as he asked them behind the veil of the screen's logo.

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"My, my, my, I have looked forward to meeting you, Alpha."

"It's Epsilon now, dickhead."

"Oh I see…"

"Could we just get what we came here for? Chairman you said that you would have our intel for our op to arrest the Director. So where is it?" Wash demanded.

"My dear Agent Washington, always focused on the mission. Certainly an admirable trait, but I'm afraid that the situation has changed somewhat on New Solstice. And that I cannot give you the information directly," the Chairman replied.

"So how do we know what we're dealing with if we have no intel?" Tex demanded, pissed off.

"My dear, do you honestly think that I would betray you in such a way as that. That ONI officer outside has your intel but I must ask something of you and Epsilon first."

"It's Church asshole."

"What do you want?"

"Oh, I thought that answer would be quite obvious. As AI's with the memory of Freelancer we require only you, as evidence of the Director's crimes."

"Evidence! We're not your playthings! So shove it up your ass!" Church bellowed.

"I see, very well then, have it your way. Guards, arrest them."

Red Team

The others had immediately begun to "fuck up" once they were away from Wash and the others. Sarge had managed to lead the group to the Warehouse Deck to scavenge for supplies and equipment that they didn't already have. But not all of them had stayed with Sarge. Grif, Simmons, Liz, Lisa, Caboose, and Rachel had gotten separated and had landed themselves in a bar in the facility's recreation center.

Sarge either didn't notice or didn't care, because he had found a jackpot of equipment and supplies with Carmen while Tucker and Lea were trying to find a way to carry their supplies to the ship. As they did this Sergey and Sister stood watch at the entrance to the Warehouse.

"Hell yes!" Carmen exclaimed, taking in the sight of shotgun shells in the crate in front of her.

"Nice find" Sarge joined in to her joy, reaching out for a few, only to be slapped away.

"My ammo buddy, go find another crate" Carmen had to once again swipe away Sarge's hand as he grabbed for it again.

"Give me it women…" warned Sarge. Carmen smiled.

"You forgot what happened last time Sarge?" threatened Carmen.

Sarge all out stopped his advancements. Instead he turned and wadded out into the other boxes. Carmen all but stared as the red bulk of armor moved away from her.

"H-Hey, you can have some" Carmen offered and set the box down. She smiled under her helmet as Sarge looked at her.

"Thank you soldier…"

"Soldier? Are you this stiff? Relax ok?" Carmen said. Sarge smiled as he reached for the ammo in earnest. They searched in silence for a bit, the two at each other's sides in boxes.

"Why do you carry only a shotgun?" Carmen brought up. Sarge stopped a second from the sudden question as he moved on into the weapons, his hand hovering over another shotgun.

"I carry it for a lot of reasons" Sarge started, "but the biggest one is my zombie plan"

Carmen snorted. "A zombie plan? Like, for when zombies take over everyone?"

"Correct. I have 37 different plans, and all include that gun and Grif" Sarge grumbled and moved closer to her.

"Impressive. My plan is to use a shotgun and smoke grenades to move freely through to kill someone"

Sarge looked up to the armored helmet of Carmen. Something began to spark, and it unsettled something in him.

"Nice plan Carme-" Sarge replied.

"Kristine" She interrupted.

"What?" Sarge stood up from his search and looked at the other red CO.

"My name is Kristine" Carmen stood up to face Sarge, and tugged her helmet off to show the smile across her face.

"What's your real name Sarge? No one really knew mine until now" Sarge couldn't tell, but a light blush sprinkled her cheeks as she asked.

"Huh, well Kristine, mine is…" he slowly turned to face her fully when something big came into his sight farther from her. The cannon on the back of it shone like a victory. The laser battery followed it, and then the turret itself, and the beast it rested on, fully suited up and in park. The shiny beast behind her was a Gauss Hog in perfect condition.

"Sweet mother of Grif's Murder, check out the gun on her!" Sarge bellowed and pushed past Carmen as he raced over to the Warthog behind her. She blinked in denial as he blew the moment to admire a vehicle.

"Men and their cars…" she grumbled in somewhat defeat. She put her helmet back on, and continued her raking of the boxes in front of her.

Tucker laughed as Sarge pushed past Carmen in awe of the Hog. Lea looked at him in disgust.

"What are you laughing at?" she hissed silently, taking in the bewildered face of the Red girl pulling her helmet back on..

"Sarge ditched Carmen for a car. Classic, classic Sarge"

"It's like he's in love with the damn thing" Lea commented, watching as Sarge nearly jumped over the turret.

"Hey Lea, I wanted to say…" Lea stared at Tucker with scorn, and Tucker's mouth clamped closed.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry Lea…" Lea only blinked, her eyes softening with his decision.

"I thought you never apologized to anything you hit on. It's what Tex told me."

"I didn't until now; you're the first Lea" Tucker turned to Lea, "I wanted to explain why I do hit on anything with tits" Lea chuckled under her breathe, earning Tucker's eyes.

"That rhymed, sorry" Lea looked down for a second but returned to her gaze to Tucker.

"I hit on chicks because I just feel…"

"Hey Tucker!" Sarge voice broke their gaze, and Tucker turned toward the Red.

"What?"

"Come over here, Blue, and check out the space in this hog! The gun's not bad either!" Tucker sighed, shrugged, and resisted his line. Lea, however in such an uncharacteristic way, mumbled the line as he walked with some drag toward Sarge.

"I found the booze man!" hollered Sister as she half-carried, half-dragged an open crate, bottles clanking as they moved toward Sergey, who sat saddle-way on a crate.

"Nice find Sis" Sergey moved his gaze from her shimmying rear and toward the commotion near the Hog inside the warehouse.

"Hey, Sergey!" Sister tossed a beer at him, "Have a drink, or five" She smiled as he caught it, and returned her somewhat buzzed gaze at him.

"You're drunk already?" he asked.

"I had a couple before I brought 'em" she tried to keep her face straight as she smiled at him. The two drank a couple beers in silence, Sergey's gaze never leaving Sister.

"I have to ask Sergey" Sister set down her beer as she spoke, "Why can't you hit on your team?"

"It's, ah, a long explanation" he rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort.

"Come on Sergey, open up to Sister!" She gave her best drunk smile and opened her arms wide. Sergey chuckled. Sister drunk off her ass was a cute….funny sight.

"I'll try to shorten it if you want"

"No way man! Give me the deeds or ill drink you out of them…." Sister gave her drunken smile once more, and opened another bottle.

"Ok then…" Sergey paused and spoke on, "Well, the obvious start: They would kill me the instant I try to do anything"

Sister nodded absently, taking a swig and focused her unfocused eyes near what he believed was his hand, which lay on his thigh.

"And the other reason…I've kinda….feared them in my line of work" He chugged his beer and grabbed another, letting the buzz push him on.

"How are you scared of us really? I see noes logic" Sister hiccupped and stared at him.

"Noes logic? Never mind, I had a bad run with girls in the past, and I don't know really anything…." Sergey started, and the buzz of three beers straight carried him on blurred wings, his story and details being absorbed by the women in front of him. Everything was spilled: His run-ins, the mistakes, and the misfire of girlfriends; everything was told to her.

"Well, I have a rebuttal to that" she didn't sway with her words, eyes trained on his with no emotion. He sighed, the booze making his vision whirl a bit. Sister moved in a blur the first moment, colors blurring a bit, and the next, he was pushed up against solid crates, her warm lips against his in ecstasy.

"I can help you with that" she murmured against his lips, the buzz of booze replaced with the buzz of a kiss he never expected, no the kiss he's wanted he corrected himself.

"Thanks" he returned the kiss, and let things fade besides Sister, and her lips.

In the bar, meanwhile, the others were just having a good ole time. The Reds talked amongst themselves at the bar while they watched Caboose try to learn to play pool with a group of Marines while Rachel tried to Coach him. They each had their helmets off on the bar so they could drink their beers, except for Caboose who still had his helmet on.

"No, you want to try and knock the balls with stripes into the hole," one Marine tried to suggest.

"Okay, like this…"

Caboose grabbed a ball with his armored hand at chucked it at one of the pockets. But it missed and bounced up and then landed with a _thud_ onto a table with a dozen large armored ODSTs at it. The ball careened into the glasses and shattered many of them and spilled their beer into their laps. They all immediately began seeking someone to punish and turned towards Caboose.

"Hey! Did you do this?" One angry Helljumper yelled at Caboose, holding up the slightly cracked cue ball.

"Do what?"

"Don't play stupid with me Blue boy," the man pushed Caboose back in fury.

Rachel immediately stepped in front of the drunken troopers and put her hands on each man's chest trying to keep the ODST from fighting Caboose. Caboose was still clueless as to what he did wrong and why he was being pushed and yelled at, but Rachel knew why.

"Well, well, well, look what we've got here boys," the man grinned as he saw Rachel's face, "These Simulation Troopers sure have some nice chicks don't they?"

"Say baby, why don't you ditch this loser and hang with some real men?" a truly massive ODST stepped up to Rachel, his breath reeking of alcohol.

Rachel simply frowned and shook her head and began to turn away from the man until he grabbed her arm. Rachel tried to pull herself loose but the man dragged her closer. Rachel, furious, spat in the man's face infuriating him.

"You little…"

The man tossed Rachel like a rag doll into the pool table where she crashed into it and watched the man approach her. But as the man was almost to her a massive figure stepped between her and the furious ODSTs. She saw the man's fists curl tightly and shake with pent up rage. As she looked up all she saw was Caboose's back and heard his voice, but in a truly different way. His voice was low and scary, he sounded, _angry_!

The Reds turned to see Caboose standing tall against a dozen, drunk and angry ODSTs and heard his terrifying voice boom over the noise of the bar and silence the whole room.

"_You will not hurt her!"_

Grif turned to Simmons.

"Is he…"

"Of fuck, Caboose is angry."

"Not angry," Lisa observed, "That guy's furious!"

"Should we help?" Liz asked, concerned.

"A dozen ODSTs bigger, meaner, stronger, tougher, and more deadly than all of us, against an angry Caboose, what do you think?" Simmons asked.

"Agreed, lets watch the show."

The ODSTs laughed at the large Blue soldier standing in front of them until the big one stepped forward and turned to his friends. He grinned evilly and then swirled around and threw a truly powerful right hook. But, his fist met Caboose's armored glove and was stunned as Caboose stared into his eyes. As he was about to throw another punch Caboose lifted him off the ground by his arm and swung around and smashed the ODST into the pool table. The heavy stone table cracked and shattered at the force of the blow Caboose turned back to the other ODSTs and yelled.

"_My name, is Michael J. Caboose. And I love Rachel!" _

Rachel audibly gasped, holding her hands over her mouth, and watched as the ODSTs charged at Caboose. Then, the fight turned ugly, for the Helljumpers. Caboose ran straight into the men and threw one massive punch at the lead soldier and sent him flying into the air and crashed onto a table, shattering the wood and sending broken glass everywhere. Then Caboose started to hammer the others mercilessly as the others watched in pure amazement. ODSTs were sent tumbling from blows strong enough to kill and tables, chairs, glasses, and men were sent flying through the air as Caboose tore the entire room to pieces. In his rampage Caboose picked up a whole pool table, saw a row of ODSTs getting up in front of a window and threw it.

Blue Team

_CRASH_

In front of Wash and the others who had managed to run from a large group of MPs, a window shattered and they all watched as a trio of men were shoved out by…

"Is that a pool table?"

They all ran up to the shattered window and peered inside. Before them, was the single largest mess they had ever seen. Everywhere lay men in ODST armor groaning and unconscious with splintered wood, shattered glass, and chunks of what appeared to be pieces of the wall. Standing in the center of all this, holding a man over his head was Caboose. Rachel was staring at him in shock, her eyes wide open, and hands over her mouth as if she were holding back a gasp. The Reds were sitting at the bar and watching the show with beer bottles in hand and were jabbering away.

"_WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!_" Church screamed at Caboose.

Caboose heard Church scream at him and whatever rampaging state of mind he was in, he snapped out of it and turned to face his shocked friends.

"Church!" Caboose greeted them, dropping the man onto the last standing table and broke it.

"No time for that, we gotta move!" Tex yelled as she saw a team of MPs trying to shoulder their through the crowd that was gathering at the window.

They all took off down the corridor as they were being chased by several squads of MPs in full armor holding Assault Rifles. As they reached a large staircase they began to run down it to try and reach the floor blow them where the others were at. But as they got to the bottom of the stairs and began running down the hall they heard a series of gunshots and a scream.

"I'm hit!"

Wash turned around in time to see Jenny fall to ground as a burst from an MP caught her in the hip. Wash sprinted right to her, ignoring the bullets bouncing off the tile around him from the MPs' rifles. He grabbed Jenny's shoulders and dragged her behind a wall.

"Guys! I need some help over here!" Wash desperately yelled.

To his relief the group saw him and had already begun to fire back. Wash saw Hawaii sprint over to his position with his SMGs in hand. The MPs had been pinned down by the heavy fire from the team and Wash saw a pair of MPs try to make a break for cover down the stairs only to be shot dead and tumble down stairs leaving a trail red in their wake. The Reds and Blues had really learned something from their training after all, Wash thought as he turned his attention back to the injured Jenny who had by now slipped into unconsciousness.

"She's gone into shock. We need to get her back to the ship now!"

"Don't worry dude I'll carry her!" Hawaii yelled back as he lifted up her limp body and Wash cringed as he saw a small pool of dark red blood on the tile where Jenny was lying the moment before.

"Fall back to the ship, move!" Wash yelled as he fired a burst at the MPs to cover Hawaii as he ran full speed back to a large door that lead to the warehouse the others would be at. Wash ran back as fast as he could as Tex covered their retreat and slapped down a smoke grenade to mask their movement as she too retreated. The group charged into the large Warehouse where the rest of their team stood at the entrance waiting for him.

"Vic, do you copy? Come in!" Wash yelled into his mic.

"_Yello_ _dude, what's goin' on? Ya sound like you need a chill pill, or one of those chill strips…"_

"Vic! Is the ship docked at the loading bay?"

"_Jeez dude calm down we've been here waiting for you."_

"Good, open up the bay and tell dock we have wounded."

"_Gottcha_ _dude, opening hangar bay now_."

Wash watched as the large doors opened up to reveal the hangar bay where the _Misfit_ had docked. The rest of the team, including Junior, was waiting there. They ran out to get aboard but then a burst of gunfire from behind them forced them to duck down. The MPs had caught up with them and had taken up position behind a series of crates. But as they all took cover they heard an all-too-familiar-tune. Tejano music began to blare loudly from behind the MPs as they stopped and listened as the music got louder. Then from out of nowhere a brand new Gauss Hog smashed through the crates and scattered the MPs in panic.

"Yeehaw!" Sarge bellowed, blasting an MP with his Shotgun with one hand from the driver's seat while Carmen did the same in the passenger's seat.

"Now's our chance! Get aboard now!" Wash ordered.

The entire group raced to the ship and as they all were aboard the ship's bay began to close itself and FILLS disengaged the docking clamps and began to speed away. As Doc began to treat Jenny the others all looked at him in a mixture of fear, rage, questioning.

"What now?" Sarge asked.

"We've been betrayed by Command, so now we have nothing else to do," Tucker grumbled, pissed off.

"No," Church started, "We still have one thing that we don't have to worry about now. Without Command telling us what to do we can finish what we started."

"We can kill the Director."

**Big Z: Wow that's a lot of writing. **

**June F: Indeed my friend!**

**Vivian: *pops in* Very impressive word count**

**Big Z: AI?**

**June F: AI….**

**Tex: Ok, onto rating of story?**

**June F: God, I luuuvvvv this story!**

**Tex: Caboose threw that table impressively, I give him props**

**Sister: *coughs a bit***

**Sergey: *does the same***

**June F: Awkward coughing rules this room!**

**Tex: Let's just let Big Z wrap it up here, I need some *coughs* rest**

**Tucker: Rest? Oh hell yes!**

**Tex: *takes out shotgun* Come back soon… *points it at Tucker* DIE!**

**Big Z: While Tucker runs for his life, please take a little time to review this Chapter.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Rebels find out why you don't cross the Director and 27 Freelancers. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Alright, for those of you who like it when Freelancers go crazy and turn loose, this is the Chapter for you. Remember what three Freelancers can do? Imagine that times nine, along with their own squads of Freelancer Soldiers (Imagine the ODSTs from Reconstruction). Here it is, please remember to Review.**

Chapter 8

Planet New Solstice, Pacifica City

0930 Hours

4/21/2570

Director Leonard Church

"Director, it's time."

"Thank you Agent Delaware," responded Director Church, the Former head of Project Freelancer, "Are your Operatives in position?"

"Yes sir. All Agents are ready, and all troops are in position," the white and black armored Agent responded coolly.

"Very well, shall we proceed to the inauguration of this world's new elected ruler?"

"Your vehicle is waiting for you sir."

The Director got up from his couch in front of the large window that overlooked the grand skyline of Pacifica City. Dozens of mega-skyscrapers cut into the sky, shining a brilliant gold in the light of the low sunrise as News Helicopters, Personal Helicopters and Advertising Blimps dotted the sky. The Director had never seen a more peaceful setting in his life, not since his days before the war. Back then his life had been full and happy, he had a promising career in AI research working with ONI and he had the perfect woman to call his own. But all that had changed seemingly overnight.

In only a few years, he lost his home world, his family, his career, and most importantly; he lost Allison. So Director Church had sought some way to make his life worth the sacrifices, torturing his own creation, Alpha. He pushed his Freelancers harder than even the Spartans to make them the ultimate weapon to save Humanity. But all his efforts were in vain. His actions were discovered and he was arrested, along with his Freelancers. But his influence and determination could not be contained; he had escaped with the help of the average troopers of Freelancer. They had wormed their way into being the Director's and Freelancers' guards and without firing a shot they were free. The Rebels of New Solstice had offered him and his soldiers sanctuary in exchange for help fighting the UNSC.

But the Director had other plans. He had slowly gained influence among the Rebels and he had managed to gain the Third Party nomination for the office of Chairman of the New Solstice Congress. With the help of his new contacts he had run a campaign to seize control of the powerful rebel world and use it to further his own ambitions of revenge against the UNSC who had tried to imprison him and the Covenant who had killed Allison. He slowly gained momentum until his Agents had learned of a plot by the current Chairman to stuff the ballot and swing the election in his direction. So the Director stepped up his plans accordingly.

Instead of just getting elected he decided to take matters into his own hands and so he planned out a basic coup. He planted his 900 Freelancer Troopers across the city to control strategic points to insure that he decided what moved within the city. His Freelancers split into teams leading these detachments and placed some of his more lethal assassins to kill certain members of the Chairman's Cabinet. Agent Colorado was at the Capitol Building waiting with a Rocket Launcher to kill the Chairman's staff. Agents Minnesota and Ohio were setting up explosive charges on the bridges that led to the island city. But most importantly, Agent Alaska and three other Freelancers were waiting outside the City Armory for the order to kill every rebel soldier in the building.

"The elevator is on its way sir," Agent Delaware reported, but only received a thoughtful nod as the Director occupied his thoughts.

As the elevator arrived and the bell rang to signal its arrival the doors hissed open and things started happening, very quickly.

"Director get down!"

Delaware shoved his boss into an open closet as the doors opened to reveal a half dozen men in suits holding SMGs. As they fired their weapons Delaware ducked in front of the Director as the cacophony of bullets and firing continued. Then as the firing ceased Delaware pulled out his own weapons, a pair of Silenced Automags. He charged into the hall and caught the assassins unaware and rapidly squeezed off a dozen rounds that tore into the men. Blood splattered the fine carpet as the lead three men fell with bullet holes gracing their limp bodies. He closed the distance and began to easily dispatch them with brutal efficiency. With one kick he knew that he killed the first man as his boot caved in the ribs and crushed every organ in his body. Then he jabbed the second man right in the neck, crushing his windpipe. As he lay writhing on the ground, suffocating, Delaware grabbed the last man and tossed him into the window, cracking it and smearing it with blood. Then he took aim with his pistols and emptied his magazines into the assassin's body, tearing it and the window to shreds. As the carcass fell the 100 floors to oblivion Delaware saw the Director calmly get up off the ground. From behind him Delaware heard the stomping of the Director's own security detail of Agents Michigan, Nebraska, and Tennessee.

"Director are you alright?" Nebraska asked, his tone grave and serious.

"I am fine Agent Nebraska, Agent Delaware," the man paused, "Please order the attack."

Agent Alaska 

"You are good to go Agent Alaska, good hunting."

"Thanks Del I will."

Agent Alaska did one last systems check over her equipment and looked her white and gray armor over just to be safe. She wasn't the most imposing of Freelancers at only 6 foot. But she was among the most brutal. That was evident by her armament, all she carried were knives. Mostly they were smaller throwing knives that were sheathed in long bandoliers across her chest. But she also carried two standard issue combat knives and a larger machete-type blade. She could hit anything, anywhere.

Now she would be trying out her luck on rebels. So as she walked forward onto the walkway that led across the small stream with three fellow Freelancers, Mississippi, New Jersey, and California she was tingling with excitement. The rebel troops outside weren't on any sort of alert at all, and never saw the glint of the knives that flew into their throats. Without missing a beat the Freelancers split up and took separate ways into the building. Alaska walked straight into the lobby area where a few soldiers were lounging around and talking about this and that. Alaska was immediately noticed by them and before they had time to blink she set off a series of smoke grenades and flash bangs. In a few deft moves she cut the throats of the closest men and with one throw she killed the last of the soldiers with a trio of knives to the heart. Then she drew her secret weapons, two dual blades hidden in her wrist plates on both sides of forearm eight inches long.

"Alaska, what's the headcount?" Mississippi asked with the staccato of gunfire echoing the background.

"I've gotten thirteen bitch."

"Still laggin' behind kid."

Alaska growled and sprinted into another hallway and began slicing apart anyone who stood in her way. Soon she had cleared the whole hall, a dozen bleeding bodies were scattered on the sides where she had cut them apart like a butcher. Her blades dripped blood profusely as she walked into an armory where she found no one in sight and kept moving. As she turned into another room she found a few bodies there with California crouching over one of them, closing his eyes.

"Seriously?" Alaska asked, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"He was wounded, and I put him out of his misery. Just saying a quick prayer, what's wrong with that?"

"Whatever, come on, let's finish the job," Alaska ordered her partner.

"Too late slow ass!"

"Mississippi tell me you didn't…"

"Hell yeah, gotta keep up," the speed demon replied.

"All units, this is the Director speaking," their radios crackled to life, "the primary target has been trapped in the main police station, and all hostiles are falling back to defend him. The city is ours."

"Next, the planet," New Jersey piped up.

"What about resistance?" Alaska asked.

"Unfortunately we'll be quite busy. The rebels have mobilized a nearby the city and are working their way here along Interstate H-10. Strength, unknown, but their packin' armor and heavy weapons," Indiana replied.

Alaska and her team did a quick sweep of the building, killing any wounded or isolated rebel troops they found. So they walked to a balcony that was on the third floor and looked out at the city. Smoke had begun billowing from scattered pockets of the city where either rebel soldiers or cops had put up enough resistance to warrant the use of explosives. In the sky Hornets, Pelicans and the occasional blimp were being swatted from the sky by SAM missiles and AA fire set up by the Freelancers and their troops. The towering buildings were caught in the crossfire and every skyscraper had taken some kind of hit from the two warring sides. Fire and smoke choked the sky, giving a very hazy effect to the still rising sun as police sirens, gunfire, explosions, and screams echoed throughout the city.

Alaska was reminded of a past mission where she had once seen this kind of devastation but on a much more limited scale. She smiled as she thought about a very good friend named Hawaii tearing apart the Governor's Residence on the Insurrectionist world of Sapphire 2. Those were the days, when she and Hawaii would go on training ops together, and then the second and last mission he ever went on with her. Then he was gone.

"_You'd love this place, but not now anyway, but you would love what I had planned for us, a little place of our own, right on the beach for you to surf. Hawaii, where are you?" _

**Well, what do you think? Cliffhangar huh? Listen I know I haven't been updating lately, but I plan on being able to update after this one. If it takes a long time, don't worry, I'm not abandoning the story. It's just something called Finals that school and parents bitch about 24/7. I'm real sorry about taking a while but that's life. **

**I'm not going to bother June, she probably has a lot on her plate too. But for those of you who are fans of her's don't worry I plan on working with her in future chapters. **

**As always please Review so I know what ya'll think. Also check out another of my stories, **_**Tales of the Bungieverse**_**, I've gotten no traffic on it. **

**Next Chapter Preview: The Blues get a bit closer, to each other.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Big Z: Alright I told you it might take a while, but here it is. And by the way June's back.**

**Tex- *flings a knife at asleep June***

**June F- *jolts awake* Wahh! *dodges barely* Enough with the knives!**

**Tex- You were asleep….again!**

**June F- Sorry, finals and things like that. *grabs an out-of-the-air beer***

**Big Z: I feel your pain**

**June- *cracks fingers, and takes a swig* Ok, people, and fans of both me and Big Z….**

**Vivian- *pops in next to June* Let the romance commence in Three…Two…One…**

Chapter 9

UNSC _Misfit_

0630 Hours

4/22/2570

Blue Team

"Caboose for God sake's shut the fuck up," Church groaned, trying to sneak around to the side of the wall he was hiding behind.

"But Church you said there are no such thing as nice girls and Rachel is nice to me."

"Caboose shhh…" Tucker whispered angrily.

"Okay. I will be very quiet about how confused I am."

"Like that's a surprise," Sister said, "I've been confused before. But then I asked a friend of mine to experiment."

"Yeah, wait what?"

"Look there," Church said, pointing to a Blue armored figure hiding in the shadows behind a wall twenty yards away.

"It's Sergey, where's his team?" Tucker asked.

"Right here smart guy."

Tucker turned to see Lea standing right over him with her rifle in hand, pointing right at Tucker. But when Tucker was about to move Church fired a hurried round from his Sniper Rifle and the glob of Cobalt armored paint struck the rifle right on the barrel. The paint expanded as its chemical bonds changed at the impact and rendered the rifle inoperable. Lea ducked back down and tried to make a break for cover but was stopped cold by Tucker firing wildly at the place she meant to retreat to. By now Sergey had heard the racket and had turned and started firing with rather well trained precision for a Simulation Trooper and the Green paint slammed into the concrete wall and forced Tucker to take cover. But Church poked his Sniper Rifle over the wall and squeezed off what was left in his clip at Sergey who ducked back behind his cover as Caboose added onto the fire coming at him. Their rounds went a little wide but not badly so. Sister saw them shooting at Sergey and asked her comrades something.

"Can I get him?" she asked.

"What you? By yourself?" Church asked, reloading another clip into his rifle.

"I can do it!" she continued.

"You know what, fuck it, go for it."

Caboose was looking around, knowing Rachel was somewhere in the maze of walls and blocks standing anywhere from ten feet to three feet tall. He saw a quick glimpse of dark blue to his right and saw the gold visor and shotgun that was Rachel's. He charged after her, weapon in hand. A flurry of black paint pellets belonging to Tex came flying at him but Caboose ducked quickly behind and fired back at where he thought the rounds came from, sending a half dozen blue paint rounds downrange.

Tex had joined the other team to even it out after Jenny had been shot at the Camelot Space Station. She'd been bed ridden by Doc after he'd somehow healed her and said she'd be back in day. The wounds weren't deep, she'd just had a lot of them and one had broken an artery. So now Tex had decided to help out the other team and so here she was fighting her own team on the _Misfit_'s training floor.

Caboose continued to search for Rachel and then saw her trying to get around behind his team mates ten yards away. He took his chance and charged forward. He ran up behind Rachel and startled her, so she whipped her Shotgun around and tried to get a quick shot off at her adversary, using a tunnel-like structure for cover. But Caboose just grabbed the barrel and held it in place as the weapon fired off a loud burst of dark blue pellets into the wall next to Caboose's head. She tried wrenching it free and couldn't even budge her weapon away from Caboose, who held fast.

"Hi Rachel, I just wanted to say that you are not a mean lady..." Caboose started out, but Rachel was not in the mood for it, her only thought to finish the simulation, as she braced one foot on the wall, hand wrapped around her shotgun. She tried unsuccessfully to pull it with force and one foot braced. She needed to get this gun away from the Blue soldier.

"And because you're not mean, and won't hurt me when I say this…." Rachel could hear him start something important, but just faintly listened, as she grabbed the shotgun and back peddled furiously, the small screech of boots echoing as the shotgun moved no further.

"When those bullies tried to hurt you on the ship, I just….yelled something, and I'm going to tell you it."

This time around, she was desperate, both feet planted on the wall, eyes shut behind her visor as she tugged with all she could muster to pry her shotgun free. Even with all her attempts, it didn't move a single inch. She stood against the wall, only focusing her eyes on the shotgun, and scooted down the wall back onto her feet.

"I said…I loved you and…" Caboose only moved his face down a small bit, cheeks flushed with blush, as Rachel just threw caution to the wind and ran with the shotgun, only to be pulled back to Caboose and her stuck shotgun.

"And I meant it Rachel. I'm not sure if I'm confused or if this is confusing but…." Rachel stopped, stared into the visor of Caboose for a faint second before she remembered her pistol, which sat lying on her hip, loaded with paint. She blinked at him, but her visor only hid her. Finally they picked up on the buzzer going wild above them.

The simulation was over, and she wasted it trying to pry her weapon from Caboose.

"Caboose what are you doing?" the two of them heard Washington ask over the loudspeaker.

"Nothing, we're not doing anything behind this wall where no one can see us," Caboose responded, letting Rachel's Shotgun go.

"Bow chicka bow wow."

Furious, Rachel took her pistol and shot a glob of dark blue paint right into Caboose's visor. Frightened Caboose began running frantically around in circles as he realized he was effectively blinded, but since the simulation was over the armor didn't lock down and he was left with the paint blinding him to the point of panic. So he just kept running while Rachel watched him, but she calmed down after watching the lovable idiot run headlong into several walls and blocks. Rachel grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out to get his visor cleaned up.

Tex dropped her pistol on the bench in front of her, ammo next to it. The simulation went rather well, especially for her team, oddly. Their shots were a bit wide and scattered, but they were improving. Well, somewhat improving at least. She loaded her pistol once more, but examined the outside, noting the blue glob of paint stuck to it. It would take a while to get this off.

"Tex!" She was caught off-guard. She twirled around, and fired a couple of rounds into the visor of whoever said her name.

The crack of his visor wasn't good at all.

He fell to his knees hard, the spider veins of the crack visible. She kneeled down next to him, unsealed his helmet, and tugged it off.

Church couldn't feel his face, the impact of the paint shattered his visor and the toxic substance clung to his cheek.

"God dammit, me and my mistakes" Tex growled as she pried his hands off his face. The black paint didn't go completely through his armor, but some clung to him, the smoke rising a bit from his cheek a bad sign.

"Hold on Church…" she whispered, cursing herself to high hell for shooting him at point blank range with toxic paint. She caught sight of the paint remover near her, grabbed it and was at Church's face once again, the blue gel spreading around the paint in desperation.

"Thanks a lot you bitch" Church growled as the gel disappeared with the black paint. The impact left a huge bruise and scorch marks on his face, not helping at _all_ with his pale as hell face. Tex had dropped her cold shield as she stared into his eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she saw him without his helmet on, and she was amazed at how he didn't look like complete shit.

The last time she saw him with without armor was….

"Leonard…."

Church's eyes widened. The only time he'd she her cold exterior break was a long time ago.

"Worried a bit?" he taunted, and the cold woman he knew grew back, her face blank as stone.

"No, you ass. You know you shouldn't sneak up on me like that" she got off her knees, and offered at hand to help him up. He was skeptical at the help.

"Take it Church" She wiggled her fingers. "It's your only shot at this."

He took the hand, but as swiftly as he was pulled up, her helmet was off and clattering on the ground. His lips met hers in a rushed lust. Her hand curled around his, fingers trying to join with his.

Pulling back a bit breathless, their eyes met, and the answer to the question was obvious.

Church regardless pecked her lips and whispered.

"You were right; it was my only shot"

Lea only stared blindly from her perch on some stacked up crates. Tucker was getting to be somewhat ok, but she still had her suspicions.

"Lonely a bit Lea?" she looked down to find Tucker, helmet in the crook of his left arm.

"No, I have a show I'm watchin'. Want to see it?" Tucker shrugged, and climbed the crates to sit next to her. She pointed toward her little 'show', which were Tex and Church….

Mid-make out.

"Really Lea?"

"They weren't doing that when I started to watch!" Lea exclaimed, and started to lean toward Tucker.

"I was seriously sorry Lea" She turned to look into his eyes. His eyes were downcast, hands clamped together. He looked nervous.

"Why so nervous Tucker?" she prodded, poking him pointlessly on the cheek. Tucker's hands moved fast, one hand suddenly cupping her chin, the other on top of her hand.

Lea blushed as he grew closer, lips not inches from hers. Her eyes met his, but something was off.

"I'm sorry Lea…" he whispered, retreating backward.

"Don't you dare Tucker" she growled, and took her free hand, hooked it onto the back of his head, and pulled his lips to hers. Tucker couldn't argue and anyway; she was better than anyone he's kissed before.

"You know Tucker..." Lea mumbled on his lips when they parted.

"Hm..?"

"You have soft lips" She sighed, "And I know you were sorry"

"Thanks Lea"

Sister tugged her helmet off, small drops of sweat following it. Chasing Sergey around did have its hardships, but she did hit him in the arm and head. She scratched at the paint on her breastplate.

"That's going to be sore" She took her paint cloth, wiped most of it off, and sat down on an unused cube from the simulation. She hissed as the seals of her breastplate snapped open, the armor coming off. She couldn't see through her under suit, but she would be feeling that bruise for a while.

She turned toward another bundle of cubes to her left, and spotted Sergey, chest plate gone and helmet in hand. She smiled, stood up and ran full speed toward him, abandoning her removed armor.

Sister somehow had hit him in the head. Sergey examined the yellow paint splat on his helmet. He stood up to grab his paint rag, his helmet still in his hand.

"Hey Sergey!" he turned to Sister, who was running up fast, with no intent to stop.

"Sister, slow down, slow down, slow dow-" She tripped ungracefully, barreling into Sergey and throwing them in the air, his helmet flying off near his chest plate. They rolled on the ground several times before stopping, Sister straddling his hips, hands joined with his.

"I stopped Sergey" she leaned in on his ear, tongue playfully flicking. He suppressed a groan and closed his eyes.

"Not here Sister" he whispered, and flipped them both. He dug his head next to hers, his breathe against her ear.

"But maybe somewhere more…" he nibbled on her ear, remembering her help. "….private ok?"

"Ok" she moaned out. He smiled as he kissed her, and helped her off the ground.

"I should get my armor Sergey" Sister shrugged. He nodded as she walked back to her discarded armor. He smiled, and felt accomplished as the seals of his armor snapped closed.

As the Blue Team wandered out the Red Team walked in to take their place on the Training Room Floor. Up in the booth however, Agent Washington had already left for the Medical Bay. He hadn't really gotten over seeing the blood of a team mate on spilled on that tile. He just had to know that she was okay. For whatever reason he was going to find out.

As he drew closer to the Med Bay, or really Jenny's room of it, Doc walked out of her room, hands stained crimson.

"What happened?" Wash hastily grounded out of clenched teeth. Doc startled at Wash's surprise visit and jumped a bit, flecks of red bouncing off his hands.

"Nothing fatal Wash. The stitches on the artery reopened, and it got a bit bloody." He explained, hoping that would calm the Freelancer. Wash's fear eased a bit, but he stayed rigid.

"Can I see her?"

"Not so fast Wash. She needs some rest. No one can see her until she's up" Doc explained, arms crossed and eyes hard. Now he needed another way.

"I'm sure, Doc, I won't hurt her" Wash insisted.

"Not going to happen!" Doc replied.

"Hey Doc! Stop babysitting injured and get the fuck down here!" Tex suddenly shouted in the comms. It's like she could read minds. He hid his smile as Doc placed two fingers on his ear piece.

"The training floor?" Doc replied into the comm.

"No, the showers. Of course the floor Dipshit!"

Doc groaned under his breathe and walked past Wash as he headed for Tex.

"Now's my chance" Wash whispered, and walked into Jenny's room.

The smell of antiseptic was strong, but overtaken by the coppery smell of blood. Rags soaked in blood lay near the disposal. Jenny herself was as pale as any Spartan, but it seemed her skin was even paler. Eyes closed in exhaustion, hands clamed into fists and a pained looked greeted him as he stared at her.

"Déjà vu Jenny"

"It is, isn't it?" came a croaked response, "First me staring at you, now you staring at me" Jenny's eyes were cracked open a bit, mouth curled into a smirk.

"You shouldn't be awake Jenny" Wash scolded, only getting a shake of Jenny's head.

"I'm fine just…" Jenny hissed as his hand grazed her still healing artery wound.

"Don't fake it" he warned. Jenny broke into a sad smile.

"Why are you so cold sometimes?" Wash was taken aback at the question. He wasn't cold, was he?

"I don't follow" he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Sometimes you can be all 'hard core, I'm an ass' Freelancer. It…it gets annoying" Jenny looked down at her hands in her lap.

"I'm not always 'hardcore, I'm an ass'." Jenny chuckled at his skip. "And I'm not an ass!"

"You can Wash…" she prodded, giving Wash a weak smile.

"I will pull rank Jenny" Wash muttered. Jenny's eyes grew hard.

"There you go again! Snappy and cold"

"I am…" He couldn't finish. She was…right. He was a cold killer, in almost perfect terms.

"Just… just open up then" Jenny tried to sit up to look him in his eyes, but her hips still stung and screamed at the movement. Black veins clouded her vision as she slowly fell in unconsciousness.

"Let me" Wash grabbed her bed controls, and moved the backrest up. Her vision cleared at last, her head fuzzy and pounding, but it still registered Wash's help.

"Thanks Wash" she said meekly. Her head finally stopped pounding.

"And opening up…" he grabbed her chin softly, holding it close to his, "I can do that"

Jenny couldn't hold it. Her blush escaped her grasp as her heart fluttered. She knew something would happen. Not the greatest timing, but it would work.

"And I the same" she leaned closer to him, his warm breathe clawing down her throat in waves. Wash's face lit up just enough to make Jenny high on his closeness. They both inched closer and closer to each other's lips. Their bottom lips brushed each other, and slowly their lips came together….

"HOLD IT!"

Wash startled backward, and Jenny jumped up a bit. Both their faces were flushed red as they caught sight of Doc's angry face as he moved toward Wash.

"You tricked me using Tex just to see her!" Doc scolded him, his face growing a bit redder. Wash chuckled nervously, hand running though his hair. Doc continued to scold him for 'misusing Tex' and 'tricking him for Jenny's lips', which made Jenny, who was as red as a beet, laugh.

"But, instead of yelling anymore, I'm going to run Church's skin sample quickly"

"Church's? What happened to him?"

"He took a paintball to the face, I'm a bit worried" Doc turned back to the equipment, ignoring the two other Spartan's. "I need to make sure this paint won't fuck with his skin like they do with guns" Doc, like any medic, became engrossed with his now rather complex work, the samples in scanning and analyzing.

Wash had a small chance. He moved swiftly to Jenny's side, and swiftly cupped her cheek and pulled her close. Jenny's hand moved swiftly to Wash's neck.

Their lips collided briefly, the both of them mapping each other for the short period they kissed. Wash disengaged the kiss first, eyes trained on hers. Jenny's blush grew redder as he smiled. He got up off his knees, and tried to briskly escape.

"This is a medical room Wash," taunted Doc, a smile creeping into his voice, "Not a bedroom"

"Shut up Doc, or I'll shoot you point black" growled Wash as he entered the doorframe.

"You're being cold again" sang Jenny, her smile bring Wash to the clutches of a blush.

"You are not helping!" shouted Wash as he turned into the hallway. Jenny and Doc's laughter followed him until he reached the booth, the Reds already setting up for their round of simulation.

**June F- *slumps into chair* Done! My god!**

**Vivian- Very impressive job! It's been a long time!**

**June F- I know! I feel so proud. I like the last part the best.**

**Wash- Yeah, being dissed by Doc is always good!**

**Doc- That's what you get for pulling that type of move!**

**June F- Ok, ok, enough! This is a romance chapter, not a murder chapter!**

**Tex- Dear god, I need a beer, and June?**

**June F- Yeah?**

**Tex- Let Big do the damn chapter preview already! *points gun at June***

**June F- MEEP!**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Reds take a hint from the Blues, and June returns with more of her romance magic.**


	10. Chapter 10

**June F: I am back once more bitches!**

**Sarge: All right *cocks shotgun* Let's get this goin' girly**

**June F: *twitches* Girly?**

**Vivian: Oh dear god…. *her hologram starts to flicker***

**Carmen: Hey, she's pulling a me! *dives into cover***

**Tex: Sarge, bad move big time**

**Sarge: You're scared of her Tex? *chuckles* She's not scary…**

**June F: *Turns to Sarge darkly and whispers in a dark voice* You're dead…**

**Sarge: Meep….**

***One major psycho freak attack by June Later….***

**Vivian: *pops in* Holy hell, it's fucked up in here!**

**Tex: *coughs and shrugs off a chunk of the wall on her* That went well I think…**

**Vivian: *chuckles dryly* Besides that freak out, let's move onto the story, shall we?**

Chapter 10

UNSC _Misfit_

0700 Hours

4/22/2570

Red Team

"Alright men, no more losing. That's an order," Sarge tried to pep-talk his team.

"Sarge, every time we go against them we lose because of their fucking Freelancer. How is this round going to be any different?" Grif grumbled.

"Because I have a plan to even the odds. Lopez, you bring the spray paint?"

"_Si._"

"Come here Grif I need to borrow your head."

"Should I even ask?" Simmons said watching Sarge shake the can of blue spray paint.

"Of course Simmons," Sarge replied, "With this spray paint I will paint a bulls-eye in the middle of Grif's face and with said bulls-eye Grif runs around trying to draw their fire. While the other team is killing Grif we sneak around and…"

"Take 'em from behind!" Donut blurted triumphantly, having figured out the plan.

"Hmm…" Simmons pondered.

"What?" Grif asked.

"I thought for sure Tucker would…"

"Bow chicka bow wow!" The speakers echoed.

"God dammit."

"That's actually the first real plan you've managed to come up with," Lopez said in his classic monotone Spanish.

"Alright men, get ready. On the signal Grif run straight at them and try to draw as much fire as possible. The rest of us will move along the left flank and take those girlies down."

Each of the Reds, save Grif, locked and loaded their weapons and stood ready waiting for the signal. Sarge clutched his now modified Shotgun which he had added a mount on the left side with six spare shells tucked into it. Grif, Simmons, and Lopez held their Battle Rifles tight to their shoulders as they'd been taught to do by Wash and Tex. Donut lastly held the team's Sniper Rifle confidently along with an SMG that Sarge had made him use. The Reds had come a long way since their training had begun and now they actually moved and fought as semi-competent soldiers instead of their usual likeness to untrained cannon fodder. But they still retained their classic characteristics of mild incompetence. A trait that had cost them in every match against their comrades.

"Round begin."

At that signal Sarge led the way down the left flank past a tall wall of solid concrete with his team behind him, except for Grif who simply dashed forward and ducked behind a small corner wall five feet tall that was more of a bunker then a wall. He had grown used to being the bait and had figured out how to hide and not get shot. As he surveyed the area around him he could see small glimpses of movement of orange and maroon, or was it maroon and orange? He kept his rifle loosely trained downrange, resting on the thick wall to lessen his work load. But when he saw a familiar figure armored in orange like him and with maroon accents on the shoulders, wrists, and helmet he decided to take the first shot. With a single pull of the trigger he let loose a flurry of orange pellets that impacted next to his intended target. Liz jumped in surprise and ducked back behind the wall next to her and started scanning ahead, trying to find where her attacker was. She saw Grif at the same time that he poked his head up and the two of them raised their rifles at the same time and fired. Orange crossed path with matching orange and both Reds' were shocked to see that they had both hit their marks before they realized that they themselves had just gotten hit. Grif's hands were frozen to his rifle with thick rock hard paint expanding around his weapon and lower arms. Liz's rifle was just as cemented down as Grif's was and they stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"So," Grif started," I guess we're both out."

"Yeah," Liz replied.

"You were the bait too huh?"

"Yeah, yeah I was" Liz shifted awkwardly against her cover, trying to move her hands.

"You're always the chum bait Grif," Liz started, "Why so?"

Grif cleared his throat. "You're the bait always as well Liz," Grif countered, "Why so?"

"Fine Grif, be that way; I'll tell you if you tell me" Liz huffed out as she slid across her cover, reaching the edge to see Grif easier.

"Deal."

Both huffed out a stiff breathe, closed their eyes for a split second, and answered.

"I'm the team screw-up" they both confessed, and at the same time shared confused and surprised looks behind their helmets.

"That's just too ironic Grif"

"Totally true; I rather sit and drink a fucking beer than fight the damn blues…" Grif explained, but was caught up by Liz.

"Because it's just fucking pointless shooting dumb sandbags" Grif actually smiled under his spray-painted visor. Liz returned one in silence without knowing or Grif really seeing.

"Now I'm amused; what's the worst thing to happen to you?" Liz asked.

"I got dragged to the damn Warthog with Donut, and Sheila comes rolling up with Tucker, who fucking sucks at driving her, behind the Warthog. Donut and I notice it, and I offer to count to three and fucking run our asses back into base right?" Liz nodded as Grif shuffled to face her on his cover.

"So I start counting, and by the time I reached three and face the damn base, he's gone!" Grif exclaimed, "And the fucking tank rolls over my ass"

"So you were flattened by a tank?"

"Indeed I was."

Liz sputtered a bit. "That means you're dead!"

Grif chuckled in response. "Nope; thanks to Sarge, and Simmons being a gross donor, my crushed body parts were replaced with Simmons' unbroken ones"

"And Simmons?"

"He's part robot," Grif chuckled, "And get this, his butts the damn fax machine we had!" Grif started to laugh hysterically.

Liz busted into laughter. "So he…"

"Shits paper!" both exclaimed, and laughed it out. After a minute, Grif slowly started to lose his laughter, and looked straight into her visor.

"You want to hang out after this Liz?" Liz's laughter died in her throat.

"W-What?"

"Do you want to hang out after the match with me?" Grif's voice didn't waver or crack.

Unbeknownst to Grif, Liz's face lit with a blush as she responded.

"Sure Grif. I would love to"

As the two orange soldiers were doing the exact opposite of what they were supposed to be doing their teams were still playing their game of cat and mouse. In other words they were going around in circles. None of them had a clue where to find their quarry until Sarge decided enough was enough.

"Spread out men, search and destroy," he ordered jogging carefully down a thin walkway between a pair of pillars.

As Sarge moved down the thin alley he heard the distinct sound of boots moving his way. Clutching his Shotgun he inched closer to the corner and waited for the unknown enemy to walk into range. In one quick movement he spun around the corner and fired a powerful blast of red pellets right into the chest of his foe. The force of the shot sent Hawaii backwards and onto his back where he stayed frozen in place. Sarge hollered in victory at taking down the titanic Freelancer, until a cloud of red pellets slammed into the wall in front of him. He instinctively ducked back and found cover as Corporal Carmen rounded the opposite corner and unloaded another round at Sarge. As he looked back around the corner he saw Carmen loading her weapon so Sarge took the chance and sprinted forward to get a better angle. As he fired a shot Carmen took cover to avoid the shots but one small pellet hit her left hand as she grabbed another shell. Knowing that the loss of her left hand would prevent her from using her Shotgun she pulled out her pistol and fired at the charging Sarge and caught him in the chest with a trio of shots. As Sarge fell she walked over triumphantly and fired one last shot into his visor to be safe. But as she turned around a burst of maroon paint rounds hit her across her chest and once in the helmet.

"Yes! Headshot!" Simmons yelled.

He moved on, ready for anything. But when he rounded a corner at a full sprint he smashed into Lisa who was on a similar mission.

"OW!"

"What the fuck?"

They both tumbled over each other and onto the ground, throwing their weapons across the floor. Lisa ended up on top of Simmons and the two of them instantly grew uncomfortable at their rather awkward position.

"Hey watch you're going…oh…umm…"

But then their crude training kicked in and they both returned to the fight. Lisa head butted Simmons and pushed up off of him and tried to scramble for her rifle but Simmons recovered and tackled her to prevent her from reaching her weapon. The duo tumbled again and Lisa threw a hastily thought up elbow at Simmons who took the blow right to the visor.

"Ow! Son of a bitch!"

As Lisa managed to get up Simmons responded and threw a hesitant kick at her legs and found purchase but once again the two of them found themselves in another very awkward position; visor to visor on the ground. But this time neither would get the chance to get up. Instead, two pink bolts slammed into their heads and froze them. Their helmets were cocooned together, just inches apart.

"Oops," Donut mused, realizing what he'd done.

But he had no time to dwell, he had to find the last member of the opposing Red team. He scanned ahead and froze in place as he saw the barrel and scope of Kate's Sniper Rifle pointing right at him. At first he was expecting the inevitable strike from her paint bolt hitting his helmet but then he realized that she hadn't fired, then he realized he hadn't fired. Both of them were just staring at each other, not doing anything at all. Donut pondered this and tried to fathom why Kate wouldn't take this magnificent opportunity to score a quick headshot. But his revile was cut short when a blob of brown paint slammed into Kate's shoulder and ended the match.

_"I am Lopez the Heavy and I claim victory_!"

"Finally!" Liz hollered.

"You realize my team won right?" Grif informed, finally stretching his stiff legs as he walked over to the paint removal tables now raised.

"Fuck, but still," Liz caught up to Grif with a few steps, "It was nice chatting Grif"

"Still up for our…, "Grif grunted as the paint sealing his hands to his gun sizzled into non-existence, "our date?" He drew quotation marks over date.

Liz nodded as she was released from her gun.

"Of course, it beats staring at the damn ceiling of my quarters." Grif smiled as she turned to him.

The Reds split off after their training, all heading different directions in pairs.

"So Sarge…" Carmen walked in perfect step with him as they both emerged in workout suits; not armor, but something with some plating.

"You did well on the floor" she complemented as she picked up the heavy pair of dumbbells and heaved them up onto her shoulders.

"I should say the same for you Carmen," Sarge started as he went for another pair of dumbbells, "You got me good"

Carmen turned to Sarge to finally see him in whole. His chest was somewhat lined in small bruises already turning purple. His face also had a bruise on it, somehow larger than his chest ones, but was fading faster.

"Ouch…" Carmen groaned. The conversation drifted off as both just pushed dumbbells a bit, both not really exercising.

"Hey Sarge…" Carmen whispered. Sarge dropped his dumbbells on the ground to turn to her. She titled her head to the ground and dropped her set as well.

"Hmm…?" Sarge hummed. Carmen, with any hesitation, walked up to Sarge, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and smashed their lips together. Sarge as well didn't hesitate. He kissed her back with all he could, his arms wrapped around her back.

Sarge's hand moved from her back to her sports bra as he deepened the kiss. He tugged at the rim and slid one finger underneath the tight band of it.

"Off" he growled.

"You're fast for an old man" she whispered as it soon met the floor. Sarge twirled them around and slammed her against the wall now behind her.

"I'm not as old as you think Kristine" He went right for her neck as she lifted her chin up.

"Sarge…" she moaned out as he latched onto her pulse, sucking just enough to make her legs squirm a bit and her fingers to curl.

"Sarge, not here" she finally managed. Sarge's mouth stopped and released the sporadic beat of her pulse.

"Fine, but," he cupped her chin and brought her eyes to his. "This isn't over"

"Agreed" was her breathless response. Sarge released her arms with a huff, and started to back his way to the door.

"Where's my bra?" She blinked and gave a hard look to Sarge, who was swinging her bra in circles.

"You mean this Kristine?" he coaxed. She turned to him, ignored the rising heat in her cheeks and walked with a bounce toward him.

"Come on Sarge, give me it" she asked, adding one last bounce to her breasts as she stopped in front of him. He was dead silent as he stared between her chest and her eyes. Wordlessly, the article of clothing was handed to her.

She leaned closer to his ear as she took it from his hands with a squeeze.

"Thanks sir" she purred. It took almost every ounce of training to keep him rooted to his spot when she said it, rather than slam her into another wall and screw her senseless, the damn tease.

Instead he took her hips and kissed her once more.

"You're welcome soldier"

She tugged it on, taking the time to tease him, and left with a quick whisper to him.

"Meet me at my quarters later"

He smirked as she disappeared around the corner.

"Wouldn't miss it"

Grif and Liz's 'chat' had taken a turn for the better; they found a case of beer in his quarters. They talked mild mannerly as they moved around the ship, the case clinking ever so often. Grif looked to his right and caught sight of the marvel in the observation deck next to him.

"Come on" Grif grabbed her wrist and leaded her into the deck.

"What? What's so important in the ob-" Her eyes caught the windows around them.

Right outside the windows was a golden-purple nebula, the shape a swirl. The gold merged into the purple perfectly, making the entire thing sparkle. The room glowed a soft violet and gold.

"Oh my god, its…" she couldn't find the words to describe it. She just smiled and moved to the window, pressing her hands against the glass.

"This is beautiful Grif…" Grif took his spot next to her. He had to admit; it was a spectacular sight to see.

"It is, isn't it?" Grif set the case on the seats next to them. One of Liz's hands fell to her side, her arm swinging. Grif's hand hovered next to it hesitantly.

"I haven't seen something like this ever" Liz 's eyes lit up as they moved past the most golden part of it and into a part of it seemingly dyed deep lavender.

"You're right there" Grif's fingers grazed hers for a second, and then retreated. 'Damn it Dexter, just do it already!' He cursed at himself.

"I've never found someone like you" Grif's hand made the leap and curled around hers. She turned to him in utter shock, face turning red.

They just stood there for a bit, eyes locked on each other's, the colors in the room switching from purple to gold.

Liz finally moved, her free hand deftly moved to his neck. She moved closer to him for her to whisper.

"Just kiss me already"

Grif's hands moved to her back as he pulled her closer. Liz wrapped her arms around his neck and finally closed the distance between them. It was soft at first, both exploring a bit, but it grew hotter when Grif angled more, and his tongue flicked against her lip. Liz tried to move closer as her tongue entangled with his.

Both pulled back for air, a thin line of spittle connecting them. Liz moved forward on her toes and pressed her forehead against his, closing her eyes in peace.

"Thank you Grif" she whispered to him, and fell into the warmth of Grif's hands around hers.

"Anytime Liz" he whispered back. Both just stood there as the nebula of purple and gold spiraled around outside the ship.

The case of beer was forgotten in that observation deck when they left.

Meanwhile on the large spacious bridge of the Misfit Simmons and Lisa were monitoring the ship's systems as was their job as the Red Teams' Science Officers.

"Backup thrusters standing by…primary systems are running at 100%" Lisa drilled out.

"Comm systems active, no chatter so far. FILSS, estimated time of arrival to New Solstice?" Simmons rolled out.

"Estimated time of arrival is approximately twenty-six hours and twenty-two minutes at slip space speeds." FILSS replied.

"Simmons…can I talk to you for a second?" Lisa turned from her station to face Simmons next to her.

"Sure…Lisa…" Simmons said and turned to her.

"What happened during the training…"

"Oh! Yeah, that…."

Lisa took in a breathe "Look, about that Simmons…."

"It was my fault right? Most girls blame shit like that on the guy" Simmons said rather coldly.

"Why the coldness suddenly? I wasn't going to blame you," Lisa turned to look at him, "I was going to say I was…."

"Horrified, disgusted…" Simmons whispered under his breathe.

"Kind of glad it happened." Simmons hands stopped moving, his fingers hovering over the keys.

"Glad?" Simmons turned to the now blushing Lisa.

"Yea, kind of…. I-I don't know why but It felt right," Simmons held his breathe, "N-Not when it happened but now that I look back at it, it felt…right"

"Huh, that makes two of us" Simmons moved away from his terminal and up to Lisa.

"D-Do you want to do something sometime Lisa…after all this is over, of course" Simmons asked.

"Why don't we do something here, Simmons? We have to spend most of our time up here anyway…"

"What about FILLS?" he whispered, worried that the AI would catch them sometime during this, he could feel her ease dropping.

"She won't mind, plus she's not our mom," Lisa placed a hand on the junction of his shoulder and neck, "And I was wondering if we could…."

Lisa moved closer to him, and moved her hand to his chest, looking up to him. Simmons swallowed and cupped her chin, and slowly brought it closer to him. Both seemed to shock each other when their lips connected softly. Lisa closed her eyes first, and Simmons followed right after. They just marveled that an awkward situation on the training floor turned to this, of all things.

"Dick Simmons, we do not approve fraternization on the bridge with Lisa" both of their eyes popped open, and with surprisingly good synch, they jumped back almost 2 feet from each other.

"Damn you FILSS" he mumbled.

"What was that?" FILSS warned.

"Nothing, nothing FILSS!" Simmons said, and returned to his terminal; Lisa did the same.

"Your names Dick?" she laughed.

"No, it's just a shorter version of my name" he explained.

"Oh?"

"My real names Richard"

Lisa smiled and returned to her work.

"I like it" she whispered to herself. Simmons smiled at the statement, not going through the trouble of telling her he heard it.

As they were enjoying themselves on the observation deck a whole other situation was developing on the Hangar Deck where Kate had fled immediately after the match. Donut had known where to find her instantly and didn't take long to find the other pink soldier perched on top of the Red's Scorpion Tank, Monty who was whispering to her in hushed tones.

"Kate, Kate!" Donut called out as he ran towards her in the hanger bay. She turned and faced Donut from her perch on Monty, who was currently snickering.

"Shut up Monty!" Kate yelled at the tank, and smashed her hand down onto the barrel of his gun.

"Watch the paint mate," Monty yelled back, but returned to his suggestive tone, "So are you going to tell him?"

"Tell who what?" Donut asked as he reached the duo, well trio if you count Sheila next to them. Kate's face lit up a bit as she turned her head sideways.

"Nothing Donut" she replied, but her answer was echoed with a silent 'bullshit' from Monty.

"I said shut your trap!" she yelled once more, and slammed her fist down onto his barrel once more.

"Just spill it! He ain't goin' to bite" Monty reassured her.

"Donut, can you come over here?" Sheila asked, and moved into his sight.

"Sure" He walked over to the blue's tank, who oddly liked him, even though he almost blew her up, and climbed atop her main cannon.

"Ok Kate, just say it, it's not so hard" Monty said. Kate nodded and faced Donut with a fire in her eyes.

"Donut, I…I-I…" Kate just couldn't say it. She couldn't bring enough courage to say it. The fire in her eyes died down, and Monty had just about enough of her hiding.

"Oi...Donut, she likes you a lot mate!" He declared, turning his cannon toward him, and getting Kate closer to him.

"…" Donut was actually silent for once, lost in more than one feeling. He just stared at Kate, who was more than flustered and pounding on Monty in a sort of hissy fit.

"Donut, you can tell her now, you know." Sheila said softly to the private, who blushed at the tank's words. It's like she could read his mind, which spooked him a bit.

"I'll turn" Sheila rotated her cannon to rest against Monty's, who didn't really seem to notice as he was still being beaten by Kate.

"Kate, I really like you too!" he blurted out. He turned away, flustered, and stared down at his hands between his crossed legs. She looked up in amazement at his confession. She blinked away the small tears oddly building in the corners of her eyes and spoke in a shaky voice.

"You do?"

"I do Kate; I don't know why, I just do. You're the first person I've known that understands what I am and what I like and I just…" Donut trailed off, his voice choked as he held back tears. Kate maneuvered off her perch and walked carefully down the barrel of Monty and crossed over onto Sheila. She bit her lip as she walked up to Donut, kneeled next to him, and did something he never expected.

She placed her hand on his and kissed his cheek.

"Relax Donut," she said softly, trying to nudge her fingers into his, "I understand."

Donut relaxed his hand and held hers, his panic gone in an instant.

"I'm glad for you too" Sheila said, and Monty hummed in agreement.

"_Kate kissed Donut, Kate kissed Donut!_ ~" Lisa's voice blared on the loud speakers to the entire ship. Kate tried to hide behind Donut, who looked like he wanted to kick random puppies, or more importantly Lisa, who was laughing her ass off on the bridge, staring at the screen that showed the hanger's live feeds.

"_Kate kissed Donut, Kate kissed Donut!_ ~" Hawaii looked forward toward the bridge, and sighed again. It seemed everyone on this frigate was doing something romantic. He knew the Blues started hooking up, but he knew only now that Kate and Donut have hooked up.

"I still can't believe Donut isn't gay, he seemed SO gay over the years!" exclaimed Simmons as Hawaii passed the open door.

"I know, but…at least they're not alone with the relationship thing." He stopped his feet, moved backward, and peered into the bridge to see what Lisa meant.

Well he found out when he saw Lisa kiss Simmons, and to only be interrupted by FILSS who sent a ping to Lisa's terminal.

"Lucky bastard, oh well good for them…" Hawaii cursed under his breathe, but then got ahold of his jealousy. _No negative waves, can't repeat the past…_ and turned to leave them to their posts, only to bump into Liz…

…And Grif, who was holding her hand.

"Sorry Hippy!" Liz apologized, and seemed to drag, or race, Grif toward the mess hall.

Why was it that he was the only one all alone on this frigate?

"This stinks, big time, man…" Hawaii turned left and went through the cabins, taking the shortest route to the observation decks.

"You know anyone can just hear us right?" came Carmen's voice through one of the closed doors. The room was Sarge's.

"I doubt anyone would be out near here anyway," Sarge reassured Carmen, "Just relax"

Hawaii didn't need to stay in front of that door for long until he knew why she was in their CO's room, as within moments, the obvious sounds of pleasure were coming through the door. He made haste to get away from that, as it brought out old memories of his own with…

"No, I won't think about her here" he warned himself as he finally reached the observation decks. He chose one at random and walked inside, sealing the door closed as he went into the middle of the room. He stood there for a second; just staring into the expanse of space and the nebula they were passing. He looked to his right and, with great luck, found an untouched case of beer, still cold.

"My lucky day, thank you alcohol," He tugged a beer free and took a seat against the glass, letting the cool feel of it and the burn of the alcohol lull him into long since buried memories of his last love….

Agent Alaska…

_Things still were a bitch here since he had arrived, and every scientist was trying to get data sent in and out toward The Director without hassle. Alaska had only stumbled onto him at first, concerned how the odd surfer had got into Freelancer. The armor was on the move to the lab she watched from the observation window. It strolled through the doors; the amount of metal that was the armor seemed to intimidate the scientists even before it was on him._

_"Agent Hawaii, are you ready for armor preliminaries and weapon check?" The Director asked through the comm he had. He was positioned just next to the other observation deck she watched from, and it started to fill with the others: Michigan, Wyoming, and a few others, mostly on- site personnel._

_"I am, sir" he replied, his cool voice seemed to calm her nerves a bit as the armor came off the racks and was attached to his undersuit skeletal structure although the weight of the advanced armor's prototype material proved itself to be a bitch even with heavy lift gear. Everything was attached and sealed without hassle, and the last piece was the helmet. The technician took it off its stand with gloved hands, and, after a few minutes and several breaks to catch his breath, put it on him, the air seals snapped together, and completing the armor._

_"Hawaii, how do you feel?" asked the Councilor. God he sounds like a pussy, she thought as Hawaii was released, and taking in the feel of the armor._

_"Feels pretty good, man." He replied. The two men in their private observation deck nodded, and the Director finally made a facility-wide announcement._

_"Attention Agents Washington and Tex; you will be going with our newest Agent on a mission. Meet in the briefing room. All other Agents, you are dismissed for the day. Take this time to relax."_

_Hawaii finally looked up to the observations, and caught sight of a woman behind the glass, her eyes seeming to shine towards him. He mindlessly waved at her, and she seemed to be caught by surprise by it. She said something to the other agents near her and turned to leave. He was left to exit the lab to his mission briefing, whatever that was._

_Hawaii shivered at what he had done that night, even if he had gotten shot at he still lost control and killed dozens of people and ruined the element of surprise. Instead Tex had lured a Scorpion right to him and when it shot at him and continued to do so even after trying to just get away Hawaii had snapped. He had started with the tank. He had torn off the turret and smashed the pilot with it like a bat as he attempted to escape. Then he had crushed a Warthog with the turret killing the whole crew. But when a building had started firing at him he had done what he never thought possible. He charged through the concrete walls and snapped the I-Beams holding up the building with his bare hands and then finished off the survivors, one at a time._

_He was visibly sulking as they returned to the ship. _

_"My god, he wouldn't do shit! I knew getting a volunteer to test it was bad!" complained Wash, who sat in front of Tex, who only glanced at him._

_"You realize he is right there?" she brought up. He turned to him with a somewhat ashamed look, but it changed quickly._

_"It's true" he hissed._

_"Look dude, I'm a surfer, not a murderer."_

_"You killed them in a pretty good rage though, and some of those ways of decapitating a rebel I've never seen before," Tex commented as she took another bite of pasta._

_"It was impressive; never saw someone beat a man to death with a skull" a new voice commented. Hawaii turned around to find the woman he waved at behind him with a smile on her face._

_"I should use that" whispered Tex._

_"Really?" commented Wash with a dead pan look._

_"Agent Alaska, you waved at me at the labs" she offered her hand for a hand shake. He looked at it at first but shook it, nonetheless. Her eyes lit up again._

_"Is it ok if I sit with you Alaska?" he asked. She seemed to think about it but nodded and moved toward a free table._

_"So, Hawaii, you're a surfer?" she asked as they sat down. He nodded and ran a hand through his blonde hair._

_"Proud to be it man! I miss the surf bad, but I got to admit, the armor is pretty cool" Hawaii exclaimed. He looked into her eyes again to see them light up brighter._

_"You're eyes light up like the Aurora Borealis lights" he silently commented. She gasped a bit, and smiled wider then he thought possible._

_"You know the lights?" she asked excitingly. He nodded._

_"Yea, where I surfed, you could see them pretty well. Surfin' under those lights always gave me good luck, you know?"_

_"I do. Are you doing anything after this?" she asked. At that moment, things changed for Hawaii; he felt he knew this woman more than just a chance encounter._

_"No, but I was wondering if you could join me in my quarters?" Hawaii asked. Her eyes lit up bright again as she forgot her tray and followed him._

_His quarters were somewhat secluded from the action of the base, like hers, but it still had a few people buzzing around the door._

_"Nice, a bit secluded. Its good here" she commented as he let the agent into his sleeping quarters._

_"I guess."_

_"Hawaii, I have just a random question" Alaska brought up as she sat down onto his bed._

_"Shoot"_

_"Have you ever believed in love at first sight?" Hawaii threw a curious look at her as the words left her lips._

_"I do, actually. Why do you want to know?" Her eyes lit up again at his notion, and her blush only lit them up more._

_"No reason" She turned away from him to hide, which didn't really work._

_"Alaska, we just officially met, what's goin' on?" he asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder._

_"N-nothing is Hawaii" she stuttered out. He smirked and grabbed her chin and turned her face toward his._

_"What is going on Alaska?" She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing seemed to come out. She swallowed and finally responded._

_Well, she kissed him in response._

_It only lasted a few seconds and as soon as she pulled away, she was saying goodbye and flying out the door, her hair fluttering in the wind she made for it._

_"Thanks Alaska" he whispered as she disappeared down the hallway._

_A few days passed, and those days were not of big concern, mostly training sessions and a mission, which went well, even if Alaska only focused on the mission and ignored him most of it. Alaska seemed to withdraw from him those days though, and scuttlebutt was getting worse each day for them both. Rumors spurred on by their reactions and awkward meetings between the both. It was getting pretty annoying for Hawaii, so he grew a pair and finally confronted Alaska._

_"Alaska, can we talk for a bit alone?" she turned to him in surprise, her eyes lighting up for a second as she got up and followed him down to his quarters._

_He opened the door, ushered her in and sealed the door closed._

_"What's going on Alaska? You kiss me and then just abandon me to the wrath of rumors?" Hawaii finally asked. She sighed and looked him in the eye._

_"I did because…." Her words dropped off, and she knew she wouldn't be able to say it like this. She got up and only hugged him. He hesitated for a second, and wrapped his arms around her._

_"I've been avoiding you because I think I'm falling for you, Hawaii, and I don't want to hurt myself again" she confessed into the warmth of his chest. He placed his chin atop her head and closed his eyes._

_"You didn't need to hide; I'm not a condescending jackass that'll snap you in two. I wouldn't think about being one" he whispered into her hair._

_She chuckled quietly and gave a hushed response._

_"Why not?" _

_"Because I've fallen for you" Her lips crashed on his quicker than he anticipated, and both tumbled across his bed, her hands deftly working to take his shirt off._

_Hawaii, being the maneuvering genius, flipped them around and already had her own shirt off._

_"How did you do that?" she asked breathlessly as he nipped at her neck, eliciting a moan from her._

_"I'm a surfer," he responded, tugging off his own shirt and settling above her, "You learn to do that pretty early."_

_She hooked her arms around his neck, and smiled._

_"Good, because if we're going to do this, certain things must go off fast"_

_Her eyes were ablaze at that single moment. His hands made way to her legs, and a sentence was passed between the two._

_"I love you."_

_Things were great after that but one day changed everything. After an especially heated match between Maine and himself, which resulted in a near disastrous hull breach on the training deck from Hawaii throwing Maine at, and almost through the foot thick hull of Titanium-A battle plate of the Mother of Invention. It was a fit of blind rage when Maine brought out an eight inch knife when he had tried to and almost killed Alaska in the process. So Hawaii charged him and things escalated from there. It had taken three hours to patch up the seam in the hull and another four to get Maine out of the mangled armor. So the Director had called him to the briefing room as the damage was being repaired._

_"Agent Hawaii, until you can control your rather uncontrolled anger, you will be sent to one of our simulation bases until further notice." Hawaii kept a straight face as he gave a 'yes sir'. He left the briefing room and moved as quickly as he could to Alaska's quarters, only to find it empty._

_"Dammit" he cursed aloud. He would have to be in the hangar bay soon, and rushing around the ship for her was a bad idea. He sighed and tried to keep a steady step toward the hangars, but her eyes kept catching his own through the hallways. As he saw his things pile onto the pelican, he looked around to the faces in that room. None gave him solace. He stepped onto the pelican, his armor color shifting. He knew this was his last chance to do anything here._

He swore in that moment to never forget her.

"I hope she's ok" he muttered as his eyes opened again, only to find the nebula gone, and the beer in his hand only chilly now. He needed to relive those moments, it kept his spirit going, and being this far from the waves killed his.

"Thank you again alcohol, you're a lifesaver dude," He thanked the now empty bottle. He set it down with the case, and smiled as he left for his quarters.

"I may not be a murderer, but I know what's right. Dude your head is mine, Director. You're gonna pay for taking me away from her," he growled in anger as the door shut behind him.

**Big Z: *walks into chaos* Shit, what happened here?**

**Vivian: June freaked and tried to murder Sarge.**

**Big Z: Why?**

**June F: *pops out of rubble* He called me girly. I am NOT girly!**

**Vivian: You need be calm June!**

**June F: *looks around* No… *closes eyes* I won't!**

**Tex: Oh shit…**

**June F: *opens eyes, here iris' red* Too late…**

**Big Z: Oh god…**

**Vivian: EVERYONE OUT! Big, do your preview before she kills us!**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Misfit arrives…wait where the fuck is Caboose?**


	11. Chapter 11

**FILSS: Now approaching New Solstice**

**Wash: Took us long enough…**

**Jenny: Don't be so crabby. At least we're all ready!**

**Grif: Let's go kick the Directors ass! Again, kind of….**

**Simmons: You're excited to get killed?**

**Grif: No, we're not going to get killed. We have some of the most devious and bat-shit crazy Freelancers with us!**

**Sister: He is right Simmons!**

**Tex: I'm surprised anyone isn't excited**

**Wash: Can we just get on with the chapter?**

**Hawaii: Chill dude, we'll do it. Here's the next chapter people!**

Chapter 11

UNSC _Misfit_

0900 Hours

4/23/2570

Blue Team

The whole crew of the _Misfit_ was gathered on the bridge of the ship, surrounding a central plotting table in the center of the platform that held the command deck of the Frigate. The Reds were gathered on one side and the Blues were on the other side while the three Freelancers were standing in the middle of the crew. Vic was guiding the ship into a stationary orbit over the city of Pacifica City which was obscured by flashing cloud cover that signified a raging hurricane that was pounding the city below. But that same storm was blocking off their sensors and preventing them from getting a good look at what exactly they would be going against.

"So what now?" Church asked looking at the image of the storm on the bridge window then looking back at the gathered group.

"We wait for the storm to reach the city, when the storm's eye passes over the city we'll be able to launch our birds and do what we need to do," Wash replied pointing the oncoming circle of calm water approaching the city from the West.

"But won't the storm see us?" Caboose asked, puzzled.

"Shutup Caboose."

"I just don't want the storm to see us."

"Hey Caboose," Tucker said, pretending to grab something off his face, "I got your nose."

"NO! Tucker let the nose go, it has nothing to do with this."

"Alright, here!" Tucker "threw" Caboose's nose across the bridge panicking the Blue idiot who ran off the platform to find where Tucker had thrown his nose. Rachel gave Tucker the evil eye and swatted him upside the head.

"Now we can actually make some progress," Church said as Caboose began looking around desperately for his nose.

"Here's the plan," Tex began, "We'll go in four Pelicans. Each one will carry our assigned vehicles for each squad. Squads will go as follows; Sarge, you and your team will take the first dropship, designation Red One. Carmen, you and your team will take the second dropship, designation Red Two. The Red teams will create a diversion in the city, you know break shit. Meanwhile, the Blues with myself leading Blue's One and Two will separate from the Reds and then take Blue Two's Warthog to this position, here," Tex pointed to a highway just adjacent to the large target building, "From there Blue Two will hold their position while the Reds secure an LZ. I'll lead Blue One to the top floor penthouse where the Director is hiding out. FILLS will be guiding the Pelicans while Vic provides orbital support and Doc will be waiting to drop via orbital insertion pod to wherever he's needed. Once we have killed the Director we'll rendezvous with the Reds at the LZ they should have secured. Any questions?"

A dozen hands went up at once.

"Why don't we just use the MAC gun to blow the shit out of the place?" Sergey asked.

"Because the MAC gun is too powerful, it could kill more than the Director, there are innocent civilians down there and we also need to be able to verify that he is dead," Washington replied.

"So why not just land right on top of the building?" Carmen asked, pointing to the top of the massive skyscraper.

"There's a missile battery up there capable of swatting us from the sky," Tex responded coolly, zooming in a quartet of large missile launchers and the heat signatures of dozens of troops.

"Why the Hell are there missile launchers up there, did they know we were coming?" Sarge blurted out.

"I doubt it," Wash said, "We were picking up some comm traffic about an attack on the city and plans for a counter-attack against the Freelancers. Apparently the Director got a little stir crazy and made a grab for power."

"Looks like the rebels don't play that shit," Simmons responded pointing at a massive formation of soldiers on the coastal highway approaching the city.

"That changes things, they look like they're blocked from moving forward due to the storm and the fact the bridges have been destroyed is another indicator that we may not have the skies to ourselves for much longer. They'll need to gain air supremacy to land their troops to establish a beachhead on the island," Tex confirmed.

"Has any one seen my nose?" Caboose asked desperately.

"Rachel could you make sure he doesn't fuck up anything down there?" Church asked/ordered.

Rachel put on her helmet and walked down the stairs to keep an eye on Caboose while the others went over the plan. She saw the loveable idiot searching desperately for his nose on his hands and knees, searching under everything that he could move or stick his head in without getting stuck.

"Our window of opportunity is closing in fast and we won't have much time to get this thing done. Everyone, prep your vehicles and weapons, we jump off in fifteen minutes," Washington stepped forward.

The group nodded and started processing out of the Bridge to prepare for their mission. Wash grabbed Jenny to the side who had been cleared for duty after sufficiently recovering from her wounds at _Camelot_ Station.

"You good for this?" Wash asked, a bit concerned.

"I'm fine, worry about yourself hero-boy," she taunted with a smile.

"_Uhh…Jenny and Vic could you come to the Medical Bay for a second?_" Doc sounded over the comms.

"Fine, he's still extremely worried about me, could you come with me real quick?" Jenny asked, using her best puppy eyes to get what she wanted.

"Fine, after we grab our gear."

"Thanks, without you there I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep him from keeping me here."

As the two of them walked with the others to the armory the ship was now left in the hands of FILLS, who had taken overall control of the navigation system while Vic went to the Medical Bay to see what it was that Doc wanted. He had left Caboose and Rachel in the Bridge, alone.

Rachel looked up to the bridge to find everyone had gone. She smiled as she came up next to Caboose and kneeled down, tapping his shoulder.

"I have to find my nose" Caboose whispered, still searching desperately for it. He would not go down there without it. He couldn't believe Tucker would throw it! It never did anything to him.

Rachel tapped Caboose's shoulder a bit harder, gaining only a simple shake of his shoulder towards her. She grew mildly frustrated and simply grabbed his shoulder and tugged him upward, making his helmet connect with the console's underside.

"Ouchy! Hey will you stop that?" he turned and warned her. He turned to find Rachel there. He waved at her and she waved back.

"Hi. Did you come to help me find my nose?" He asked, trying to look through her visor. She tugged it off and placed it gingerly down onto another console, trying to not press anything vital. She pressed her fingers to her lips and then waved them toward him. He looked at the gesture oddly, and somehow, something clicked with the motion.

"You want to….talk to me?" he said as she went to make the motion once more. She smiled and nodded.

"Oh! Did you find my nose?" he excitingly asked, jumping up once. She held back the urge to sigh and simply covered it with a shake of her head.

"Oh….then what did you want to…talk about?"

Rachel swallowed the lump in her throat and went forward. She circled her heart with her left hand and placed it on his heart. She looked straight into his confused eyes for something, but found nothing.

"Are you playing charades again?"

Rachel did it once more, circling her heart and placing her hand on his heart, trying her best to keep cool as she told him her feelings the only way she could. Still, he stayed confused, not getting the motion this time at all. She did it a third time, and finally for him, something of a sort clicked.

"My nose isn't on my che-" His sentence was cutting off when Rachel, frustrated with his obviousness to her attempts to admit she liked him, took hold of his chest piece and kissed him. Her eyes snapped closed as Caboose stared at her in udder shock. He let his eyes close as she pushed him backward, oblivious to the fact that Caboose's back and arms were pressing multiple buttons, and a small window on the console flashed the letters 'offline'.

All along the lateral structure of the Misfit the place keeping rockets flared out and deactivated sending the ship into an uncontrolled and deadly course that lead to only one thing. And the small crew was entirely oblivious to the Hell the were about to rain down.

As the team was gathering their gear Sarge ordered Carmen, Donut, Kate, and Lopez to follow him down to the Hangar to prep the vehicles. Before they left Sarge made sure to have Grif and Liz grab extra packs and fill them with spare ammunition while having Simmons and Lisa keep an eye on them. In another corner of the armory Tucker was talking it up with Lea about their past fights with Freelancers.

"Ok, Let's see….one time we went for a front assault on the Red's base, and we see Hawaii just standing there with a magnum. I start running towards him and swing my gun at him. He grabs it like a fucking boss, and throws it with me still holding it."

"Wow! Did you hit anything?"

"He threw me at my team. I slammed into Rachel and dented her helmet right above her visor."

"Ouch, but she's like invincible"

"Shit, it went downhill from there. How bout' you?"

"God, I'll start with Tex. The worst one with her alone would have to be when we went up against her in this storage facility owned by Freelancer. Me, Grif, Simmons and Sarge had to fight her, and we decided to use teleporters, and my fucking armor seems to get this black stuff on it…"

"Oh dear god" Lea chuckled.

"So she fucking throws me out toward the three, and I'm covered in the black shit, and they start thinking I'm her."

"Ha! What happened with Tex herself?"

"She beat us all up, threw a supply bunker-crate thing at us, used the teleporters to punch Simmons using his own rocket, and somehow through all this, got eleven nut shots on Grif"

"Eleven?"

"She used a shotgun to hit him once."

"Ouch…" Lea groaned.

"So, what's with Hawaii?"

"God, he kept us away for his team most of the time, he's like a fucking giant! Every time we would try to take him down, he would act as a wall, throw us away, or use the fucking ground!"

"He would throw pieces of the ground at you?"

"Yea, he threw a tree at Jenny once. God, her face looked at shit for a week"

"I, well me and the other assholes, had to face the Meta"

"The Meta? I heard about him. How in holy hell did you kill him?"

"A warthog. He flew off a cliff on Sidewinder"

"After?" Lea edged.

"He threw most of us. He actually killed Tex, but that's another story too long to explain myself. He had most of the armor enhancements and shit, so he turned invisible, froze time, and used a damn bubble shield and a lot more, but things are a bit fuzzy."

"You had to fight him in that cold wasteland?"

"Not fun at all" Tucker groaned.

While waiting Junior was just sitting back watching his father intently, making sure that Lea didn't try anything threatening, the whole while cradling his swords. He was going with Blue One to fight along-side his father. His armor was clean and ready and his swords were working to his standards, as he'd been trained on Sanghelios by a mentor that had taught him the ways of his people after his father had gone to fight the Meta.

As they were talking Hawaii was running some tests on his Spartan Laser and Church and Tex were right outside.

"So…finally seeing combat again?" Tex finally brought up, looking at Church.

"Yep"

"You know, the last time we both were really 'in combat' together," Tex started, air-quoting a part, "Was when you shot me in the ass"

"I didn't fucking shoot you, dear god" Church ground out.

"Really? You had the sniper rifle pal" Tex shot.

"I gave Tucker a chance and he fucked up and shot you!"

"Wow...I-" Tex was cut off.

"He fucking framed it on me and I got fucking hit and shit! I swear to fucking god, if I can get at him…" Tex grabbed the front of his armor and quickly kissed his lips, silencing the vow of payback.

"I believe you, numbnuts. Relax a bit, you'll need it" she whispered against his lips. Church nodded in stunned silence.

Sister and Sergey were readying themselves, well Sergey was doing the readying and Sister was pretending to get ready and was trying to get Sergey to do it for her. As they prepared to move out there were thrown to the side by a massive tremor that shook the ship.

"What the Hell was that?" Church yelled, only to be thrown violently to the deck.

"It's the ship! We're skimming the atmosphere!" Tex yelled as the Misfit continued to shake.

"What in the Sam Hill?" Sarge asked no one in particular.

Crates and miscellaneous objects began to shake and move as the Misfit was tossed through the damp atmosphere of New Solstice and the hull began to warm up the Titanium-A Battle Plate. The ship was built to be able to enter an atmosphere and provide close air support to ground troops so the first few seconds were nothing to worry about. But when the ship began to tumble slowly is when the structure began to stress at the force of its own inertia beginning to tear the ship apart and with no control over the maneuvering thrusters the Misfit continued in its downwards tumble straight at Pacifica City. The hull began to heat up to unbearable temperatures as the hull began to crack and bend and groans of protests of the ship's lateral keel were met with stress fractures throughout the inner lattice of the frame. Bulkheads began to shut automatically as the ship registered hull breaches all along its starboard side as the ship tumbled further. The heat finally reached the fuel compartments in the port tanks that fed the ship and exploded outwards causing a catastrophic failure in the power system from trying to maintain the ship's primary functions and keep up with the numerous hull breaches and fractures of the inner support structure. The ship was dead, falling with the grace of a flaming rock right into the mouth a raging hurricane that battered the ship with rain and wind, cooling the ship enough to save the unlucky crew from burning to a crisp. But now the glow of the ship's descent was readily visible from the city below, and explosions rippled across the surface of the ship as ammunition bunkers were compromised and fuel tanks lit up like roman candles. Sirens wailed across the city screaming out their cries for the citizens to take cover as the monolith of uncontrolled steel and titanium barreled down mercilessly at them. Then, out of the blue, the ship struck the city.

Over a million tons of the _Misfit _tore into the city itself, bow first. The bow splintered a massive skyscraper into pieces and pushed it into its neighbor, gashing the unfortunate structure all along its height, compromising its integrity and forcing it to keel over and fall into the raging sea, all one hundred floors and sending thousands of terrified panicked people screaming away in fear. Many didn't make it. But as the Misfit's internal structure finally snapped, sending the boxlike hull all over the city, things got worse for the unfortunate civilian and military people inhabiting the city. Dozens of hull segments splintered from the main hull and spread the carnage around and magnified its intensity tenfold. Smaller segments of room and halls wedged themselves deeply into the massive skyscrapers, sending glass and steel flying into wherever it may. Larger pieces of entire decks cut away entire sections of buildings, some of them finally coming to rest in the middle of the city streets or in buildings, high and low. The bow structure slid forward as it hit a street and gashed a path of apocalyptic destruction ten football fields long as the _Misfit's _largest piece cut through the concrete like a warm knife through butter and finally came to rest in the middle of a mall so that the Bridge was wedged partially inside the mall's foyer. Fires riddled her torn apart structure and pieces of armor plate were bent at abnormal angles as sparks and fire flew from the breaches in the hull. Weapons turrets were wrecked beyond use, storage rooms' contents were either on fire or crushed and every piece of glass was shattered or cracked. Some monitors struggled to flash red warning lights and status reports as the ship registered what had just happened.

Throughout the city things were much worse, fires and explosions from leftovers from the Misfit plagued the city as even Mother Nature failed to stem the tide of destruction the fires caused. Yet even worse were the pieces and even whole sections of buildings and the ship rained down on the streets and yet worse, each other causing a ripple effect of more falling glass, steel, and armor plate. Water poured into the buildings, compromising electronics and ruining the insides of whatever it found as the storm capitalized on the destruction to work its way into places denied to it before. Sirens from emergency vehicles screamed through the din of panicked people, thunder, and rain as the overwhelmed firefighters and paramedics rushed to save those they could. But the damage was done and only one thing came to the mind of Church.

"CABOOSE I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

**June F: My god…. The ship just went….boom...**

**Vivian: *pops in next to her* Mother of god, I hope they didn't get killed.**

**June F: There is going to be a lot of dead in the streets…**

**Vivian: Well, it is Red vs Blue style to things to go to shit**

**June F: True, but I thought it totally fucked up for Tex.**

**Vivian: Well…**

**June F: Besides that, let's wrap this up. It's silent here and I don't like it….**

**Next Chapter Preview: Where are they now? Separated, yes. Dead, maybe. In for a world of hurt, HELL YES! **


	12. Chapter 12

**June F: Shit, I can finally see through some of the smoke!**

**Vivian: You sure? I can't see anything**

**June F: Look, the cast of this story is now trapped on New Solstice and I need to know where they are!**

**Vivian: Relax June, we'll find them, but we can't right now with the storm.**

**Big: And the raging fires, raining metal, and oh and the Freelancers and Rebels fighting it out.**

**June F: You're right…**

**Lily: *walks in* Hey June, I can't find anything to dri- HOLY SHIT, explosions!**

**Vivian: Lilith, why are you here? Big didn't let you in!**

**Big: She said she knew you.**

**Lily: Just let me stay, please?**

**June F: *faceplams* Lets just continue on, shall we?**

Chapter 12

New Solstice, Pacifica City, Coastal Industrial District

4/22/2570

2315 Hours

Group One

The wreckage of the _Misfit _sparked and spat flame as the occupants of the ship finally came to and began moving around.

"Oh…my head," Tucker groaned as he pulled himself out from under a large crate that had knocked him out when the ship began breaking up, "Where am I? What happened?"

"Tucker! A little help here!" he heard a voice from under a bent and torn piece of the wall that had fallen on top of the owner of the voice.

"Lea, you okay?" Tucker rushed over to pull the mangled metal off of her.

"_Blarg!"_

"Junior! You're okay!"

The big Elite shrugged off a wall panel that was pinning him to the ground and stood up to make his way over to his father.

"_Honk." _

"Still trapped under here if you're done up there," Lea groaned.

"Oh yeah, right. Junior help me out here we need to get this thing off of her."

Tucker shuffled past a whole lot of debris on the floor and grabbed a corner of the panel and prepared to lift while Junior grabbed the other end and pulled, hard. The metal groaned as they pulled it off of Lea and she crawled out from under the panel and the two of them let it go when she was clear.

"Thanks, what happened?" Lea asked as she straightened up, trying to avoid the dangling wires that sparked flames and electricity.

"How the fuck would I know?"

"You know what forget I asked," she replied grabbing an Assault Rifle and Magnum then tossing Tucker a BR, "Where are the others?"

"Uh…I don't know they were in here last I checked. The Reds were over in the corner, I don't think…"

All of a sudden coughing came from under a stack of boxes where Simmons emerged with the other Reds in tow, shoving off the boxes and helping each other up. Their armor was covered in dents and scratches from the rough ride and they were kind of wobbling on their feet as they moved out from the stack of destroyed crates. But Grif was having trouble walking.

"What the fuck just happened?" Liz groaned.

"Did we crash?" Lisa asked.

"No, the landing gear had an off day, of course we crashed you stupid bitch!" Lea growled.

"That's enough, the only thing we know for sure is that we've crash landed in the middle of a city that's being fought over by the Freelancers and the Rebels, on top of that there's a fucking hurricane pounding right now, we need to get out of here," Simmons said, trying to get a grasp of calm, but only making it worse, "Any ideas?"

"Uh…let's find everyone else first of all, and get out of here before someone else finds us," Liz said, handing Grif a BR, and taking one for herself.

"So let's go," Tucker said moving to the half open door that was partly lit by the flashing of the overhead lights.

"Dammit, ah, I'm gonna need some help," Grif groaned, "I think my leg's busted."

"Simmons help him out," Tucker said, moving with Junior to pry open the door.

"You'd better not be having me carry you just so you can avoid work," Simmons grumbled, helping Grif walk over to the door behind the Red Girls who had grabbed the packs they had prepared for their mission.

Tucker and Junior both pulled on the bulkhead and gradually creaked it open to see something they had not really wanted to see. A driving rain coupled with the debris that a storm picks up battered the group even before they were outside. The group groaned at having to walk out into the middle of such wet and stormy conditions but when they saw the buildings around them they were quickly sobered. Fire and sparks still covered the city as the storm bore down on the factories that their portion of the ship had come to rest in. Each and every building was wrecked beyond salvage as the wreckage of the Misfit and the power of the storm took their toll and battered the buildings. Holes and wreckage coupled with debris from past battles littered the area. And the group had walked right into it.

"What the fuck happened here?" Liz asked as they surveyed the area.

"We happened," Lea said passing by her to begin her descent down the piles of wreckage to the ground to join Tucker and Junior.

"Come on, let's get out of here and find the rest of the squad," Lisa said to her sister as she passed her and moved down the trail that the others were taking with Simmons assisting Grif down the pile of steel and brick.

Lightning flashed everywhere as they walked down the street covered in pieces of the ship and buildings with the occasional barricades or burnt out vehicles along the way. There were also bodies, a great many bodies. Most were soldiers and police, shot and riddled with bullet holes and mutilated by shrapnel. Their blood pooled next to them as the rain spread it out into rivers of pink leading to drains. These bodies were of the Rebel defenders who had fallen trying to hold back the tide of the Freelancers. No Freelancer bodies or the bodies of their troopers were found but they found something that made their stomach's turn. The bodies of many civilians, men, women, and children were scattered across the street, killed by the falling debris and falling from the high rise buildings themselves. It was all the group could do to not feel guilty and move along. But they didn't have the luxury of remorse at the moment.

"Take cover, vehicles," Lea called out as the group from her position ahead.

The group dove to the right side of the road into a department store and hid as best they could. Their armor's exotic coloration was a blessing in disguise as it blended with the equally exotic clothes they had hidden amongst. They prepared themselves for a fight as the convoy approached their position and felt themselves tense up. As they saw the lights of the Warthogs and the whir of the engines they aimed their rifles at the blown out glass they had come through. Then the convoy came into sight, they were moving sluggishly through the storm outside and were on a mission so they didn't bother to look around very well. A dozen Warthogs carrying the Freelancer Troopers passed by without incident and the group relaxed.

"We can't do this all night," Lea began.

"Bow chicka bow wow."

"I'm serious Tucker!" Lea slugged him on the arm, "There's too many of those guys around here and we need to stay hidden. They'll be looking for the crew of the ship when they realize there are no bodies."

"She's right, we need to find a way to move quickly and move stealthily," Simmons responded.

"Hey guys what about this?" Lisa asked from the back of the store near a hole in the floor where a pair of rebel soldiers lay dead with their blood smeared on the wall.

"That could work."

"_Blarg." _

Group Two

Pacifica City, Residential Sector #3

"Sarge!" Carmen called out feeling her leg pinned by a large piece of metal.

As she called out she saw a lone figure emerge from the smoke and haze. It had heard her call and came closer but it was not what Carmen had wanted to see. A lone Freelancer Soldier carrying an Assault Rifle walked into the clear and stood no more than ten feet from her pinned form staring at him from her back. But she realized how much danger she was in and made a grab for her Magnum. But to her shock and dismay it was gone. The soldier walked to her as she desperately tried to free herself and screamed for help. The man placed his rifle no more than an inch away from Carmen's visor, smirking behind his gold ODST visor.

"Nighty night Red."

_BANG! _

Carmen slowly opened her eyes as she saw the soldier standing over her stumble in place and then collapse to the ground, bleeding from his throat and clutching at the bullet he knew he couldn't get at. A dark figure stood away from the area and walked forward revealing the Brown armor of Lopez.

"_Buenos noches."_

"Good work Lopez," a friendly voice boomed from behind the robot and from behind Lopez the red figure of Sarge emerged followed by the pink soldiers she knew were Donut and Kate.

"Sarge! Kate! Boy am I glad to see you."

"Likewise," Kate said, aiming her Sniper Rifle idly while Sarge and Lopez helped her to her feet.

"That bastard won't be the last one we see, we need to hightail it to the others," Sarge said as soon as they managed to pull Carmen free.

She now saw that they were resting in what was left of the hangar, pieces of metal, crates, their vehicles, and masses of miscellaneous wreckage littered and piled on the floor. But there were two shapes missing that Carmen took notice of immediately.

"Where's Monty?" Kate asked.

"And Sheila too," Donut added, looking around for the unmistakable silhouette of the two Scorpions.

"They're gone, come on. Let's grab a vehicle and get out of here," Sarge responded, "hey Carmen need this?"

Sarge picked up an unmistakable shape from off the ground and tossed it to her. Carmen instinctively snatched her Shotgun from the air and chambered a single twelve gauge round.

"Thanks, hey looks like your Gauss Hog is still operational. Kate, find us another vehicle," Carmen ordered her subordinate.

"Donut go with her," Sarge ordered, "Come on, let's get this puppy rollin'."

As the group moved off to accomplish their assigned goals Sarge and Carmen passed a gash in the hull that gave them a perfect view of the devastation they had just unleashed.

"My God, we did this," Carmen said holding her Shotgun at her side and feeling a pang of guilt rise in her gut and threaten to boil over in tears as she thought of all the civilians that were dead because of what had just happened.

"Yes, but you have to put that aside and accomplish the mission. Do what I do, think of the bright side," Sarge said to her as he put a gauntleted hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess I could be very well be dead or worse, I could have lost you."

"Yep, that's the spirit. We're here and Grif is most likely dead."

The team mounted up with Lopez driving the Hog, Sarge in shotgun, with his Shotgun, and Carmen in the back, manning the big Gauss Turret. Donut and Kate mounted up on a surviving Mongoose with Kate hanging onto Donut for dear life and Donut struggling to hold onto the controls with Kate clutching him from behind. So Lopez started up the Warthog and instantly the sound of Tejano music filtered through the speakers and the group drove off.

"_You have got to be fucking kidding me. What the Hell is with this music?" _Lopez groaned as Sarge pointed to a way out and the group made their way out into the choked streets.

"We better find the others, before someone else does."

Group Three

Pacifica City, Thracian Contractors Tower 

"Church you alright?"

"I'm fine," Church replied to Sergey who had pulled a piece of a wall off of him, "Where's Tex?"

"She and Hawaii and finding a way off this place," Sister replied.

"Fine, where are the others?" Church asked the man in front of him.

"Dead, lost, stranded, who knows. Judging by the wreckage being fragmented like this I'd say the individual seams holding the modules of the ship popped simultaneously and the ship shattered and spread us like dust in the wind."

"So we're on our own?"

"We sure are, oh I managed to find our weapons, here," Sergey handed over Church's Sniper Rifle.

"Thanks, come on let's find a way off of here, wait where is here?"

"According to this sign on the wall we're on the fiftieth floor of the Thracian Contractors Building."

"Oh, right, so what now?"

The three kind of stood there awkwardly listening to the rain and the storm pounding the massive tower they were on and waited for someone to come up with a plan. Fortunately for them they weren't the ones that had to come up with the plan, as Tex and Hawaii emerged from the floor above them soaked to the bone, but their armor had easily kept out the rain.

"We have a plan for getting out of here cockbites," Tex said.

"Tex, what is with you and saying that?" Sergey asked.

"Yeah, and I've tried to live that nickname down since middle school," Sister put in.

"Yeah…wait what?"

"Dudes we have a plan for getting to ground level, but it's risky," Hawaii interrupted.

"We basically slide down the top half of the building that's keeled over and is now resting against the one next to it," Tex finished.

Before the group could say anything they heard the crash of a door being breached right behind them. The door shattered at the force of the explosion from the charge and a pair of armored Freelancer Troopers walked in and started shooting. The first people to respond were Tex and Hawaii who drew their weapons and started firing back. Tex double tapped the first one with a pair of BR shots through the visor and shattered it and the man fell back and blood started to pool from out of the cracks in his visor. But more men streamed in with rifles brought to bear as Tex ordered the group to fall back and Church and Sister immediately turned and sprinted up the circular stairway with Sergey covering them from the foot of the stairs and managed to kill a man who rushed in with a burst to the trooper's chest and sent him back into the hallway where he barely missed plowing into a lone figure wearing White and Grey Armor. Sergey rushed up the stairs with Tex and Hawaii hot on his heels as the Freelancer drew a pair of menacing looking throwing knives.

They rushed to the new top floor of the tower and were confronted with the large keeled over sixty floors of the Thracian Contractors Tower that was now a veritable slip and slide. Hawaii eyed the smooth glass and wondered if he would be able to enjoy himself.

"Here, go, just slide down dudes, we'll cover you."

Sergey grabbed Sister by the hand and rushed off the floor and into the pounding storm where the two of them hit the hard glass a foot below and slipped onto their butts and slid down the 40 degree slope at an ever increasing pace. Thanks to the combination of rain and smooth glass the duo slid like it was a regular slide in an amusement park. Church was next as he fired a pair of poorly aimed shots down the stairwell along with Tex and the two of them made a run for the slide and jumped down right on Sergey and Sister's heels. Hawaii stayed to provide the time that the group would need and began backing up to hop down and slide to safety. But one minute he's looking back to be sure that he's where needed to be the next he was flying off the edge with a Freelancer Agent plowing into him.

The two of them slid down and Hawaii managed to get his feet under him and set his boots to the least amount friction he could to ensure a clean slide so he could focus on dispatching the gutsy agent who had attacked him. But he looked at the agent, who had already drawn two knives and was gunning for him, the two exchanged their blows. The agent began slicing at Hawaii with deadly quick strikes from her knives which Hawaii barely dodged and nearly lost his balance doing so. Hawaii expertly slid and weaved on the uncontrolled ride down holding his own against the Freelancer who was always threatening to topple over. So Hawaii retaliated with grabbing the agent's arms and bringing his superior strength to bear and landed a crushing head-butt into the Mk VI visor and sent the agent reeling and pushed again with his own punches and jabs which the agent barely managed to block but fell over in the process. The agent finally fell backwards after she had attempted a counter attack with a left jab and Hawaii had grabbed the arm and simply open palmed the agent square in the chest. Hawaii saw that he had delivered the final blow for the short ride, which he never had the chance to enjoy, as the mangled mess of the open area where the tower's upper half carved into the tenth floor of another building came rushing at them. He saw the others waiting for him at the bottom and jumped when the building ended. But the agent had not been ready and cartwheeled headlong into a wall and smashed into it and collapsed in the rubble of the wall. Hawaii saw the helmet of the agent lying there on the ground next to the wall.

The others rushed in with weapons raised and ready as the shadowy figure of the Freelancer started to shuffle and move as they tried to get their feet under them. When Hawaii saw the face, the snow white hair, and the glowing eyes of the Aurora Borealis he dropped his guard in disbelief. He did a double check from his memories and came to the conclusion that his eyes were not playing some cruel trick on him.

"Alaska, is…is that you?"

Alaska looked up toward him, partly in confusion on how he knew her, and part in disgust as he was an enemy to the Director.

"Do I fucking know you?" she spat at them, eyes sharp and focused on the large Red. She knew the others were there, but they weren't much trouble for her right now.

"Hawaii, this is a bad situation right now…" warned his black teammate. Hawaii…..Alaska's eyes widened as the rush of memory hit her. She held back the urge to gasp.

"Wait…Hawaii?" she asked, getting up from her knees, all hints of anger just gone, like it was washed away by the pounding gales and rain of the hurricane.

He watched her as her eyes lit up brighter, and for a single instance, his vision seemed to take form of his memories, and then returned to the devastation around them. He took off his helmet, and just smiled in response.

Tex simply walked backwards as Alaska pounced onto Hawaii, sending him backward onto his back. Alaska wrapped her arms around him as best she could and pressed herself close.

"I thought you were dead" she whispered into his armor. He braced himself and sat up, just letting her sit on his lap as he took her chin into his hand and pulled it up.

"No, but there were a few close calls" he replied. Her eyes flashed brighter for a fleeting second.

"What happened to you, I thought you just decided to leave me…"

"I was shipped out into the simulation bases. I couldn't just disobey orders from the Director"

"He forced you to leave?"

"Yes" She blinked twice in disbelief, but kept her tears at bay.

"You still left. Do you even still…"

Hawaii chuckled and brought his forehead against hers.

"I couldn't stop if I could"

Alaska may have been a cold killer and made of stone, but she let it shatter there, and just let her tears fall with the rain.

**Big: How the fuck did this happen?**

***Lily and June are wrestling on the floor***

**June F: You know Lil? You should have shut your face!**

**Lily: Fuck you man!**

**Vivian: *pops up beside Big* They always do this. Besides that, the end to this chapter was just so sweet.**

**June F: *struggles and pushes Lily away* It was! I like it!**

**Lily: Get back here bitch! *tugs June's hair***

**June F: OW! You rotten….**

**Big: I'll…finish this up here…**

**Next Chapter Preview: Doc + Wall = … **


	13. Chapter 13

**June F: Blarg.**

**Lily: *funny look* Blarg?**

**Vivian: June, you're on.**

**June F: Oh! Sorry, I have a tendency to speak Elite.**

**BIG Z: Which dialect, RoosterTeeth or Bungie?**

**Lily: So you say Blarg and Honk in response?**

**June F: Honk**

**Vivian: That is just weird….**

**BIG Z: Indeed.**

**June F: Honk Honk Blarg Blargy Honky Honk!**

**Lily: Seriously, what the fuck is she saying!**

**Vivian: Translating….. She says enjoy the next chapter!**

**BIG Z: I would hope so, we wrote it!**

Chapter 13

Planet New Solstice, Pacifica City, High Rise Hospital #3

4/23/2570

2445 Hours

Group Three

"Hello," Doc called to the emptiness around, "a little help here, assholes."

"Doc!" a familiar stern voice called out.

"Wash, is that you?" Doc called back to the friendly voice.

"Yeah, where are you?"

"Under here! This wall fell on me, Wash why do walls hate me?" Doc whined as he heard the Wash's footsteps draw closer.

"I have no idea," Wash casually answered as he grabbed ahold of the fallen section of wall that was a part of the building they were currently stuck in.

Wash pulled with all his strength, testing the power of his muscles and his armor to the limit. But as he felt the wall slowly move up he could feel more weight in it than normal. He heaved the wall into a sitting position and saw something that made him contemplate bursting out laughing and groaning at the same time. There was Doc, smashed into the heavy concrete wall with his scanner in his right hand and his hands in a hands-up pose like he was being mugged. Wash had seen this once before, and Doc still had the bump to prove it. The Meta had smashed Doc right into the wall of Blue Base and was stuck in there for a good while until Meta and Wash had just decided to use a bit explosives to either get him out or kill him, either way they won.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Yeah…I've always had bad luck. Ever since I was sent to Blood Gulch this thing just seems to keep happening."

"Oh…my head," a voice grumbled from beneath a pile of rubble that was once a stack of medical equipment.

"Jenny, Doc stay here…oh yeah I forgot."

Wash just shrugged and shoved aside the boxes and tried to get Jenny out from under the pile of stuff and make sure she was alright. It didn't take long and Wash was able to help her up and return to Doc who was basically helpless in his wall. As they returned to Doc they saw that Vic had magically appeared and was waiting by Doc trying to figure out how to get him out. Miraculously he was unhurt thanks in part to his armor that he was wearing for the supposed to be operation that was now fucked up in every sense of the word. He also had his pilot helmet sitting next to Doc on a table that had somehow survived the hit from the medical bay slamming into and sticking to the building they had hit.

"I see we're all here now, so first off we need to get Doc out of that wall. Jenny grab a grenade."

"Whoa whoa whoa Wash no grenades!" Doc begged.

"Why not?"

"Because this is a hospital Wash, there could be people underneath us now."

"A hospital?" Jenny stammered, stepping back to get a good luck at the remains of what appeared to be a lobby. It was clear as day, a red cross was standing above the reception desk as the group

"Yeah a hospital, find another way to get me out then we can find the others. Sound good?" Doc asserted.

"Sounds good to me dudes," Vic agreed, leaning against Doc's wall.

But, that wasn't the smart thing to do, especially considering how unstable the floor was and how heavy the chunk of wall Doc was stuck in was. As Vic leaned against the wall it tipped sending the piece over like a tree and when it hit it hit hard. The chunk of wall slammed through the wood floor and went straight down to the next floor which was actually ten stories down because of the fact they were standing above a large circular stairwell that held hundreds of injured patients and the doctors and nurses that tended to them as best they could. But they were all interrupted by Doc's loud screaming.

_BOOM!_

Doc's trip to the bottom of the stairwell was short and not so sweet, because he landed so hard the wall shattered and left Doc in a world of pain. His shoulder was dislocated badly and wouldn't pop back in place, the other arm was broken, and Doc had a nasty concussion to boot.

"Ow…"

Wash and the others watched helplessly as Doc crashed into the floor below and left a dusty crater in the tile as some doctors rushed to see what they could do. Wash, Jenny and Vic grabbed their weapons and rushed down the stairs to their left and proceeded down to the scene of Doc's ill-fated landfall. But it would take them quite a while to get there and they weren't going to be the first.

As Doc lay there he saw that a beautiful young woman was walking right towards him with a pistol in hand shaking like a leaf. She was tall had long wavy black hair and determined eyes that stared right at the immobilized Doc. Her white coat was stained with blood and grime from endless hours of caring for the wounded and the injured. And she was not pleased about having, in her eyes, a large dangerous man that looked too making much like a Freelancer. But she couldn't kill anyone and she knew it.

"Hold it there Freelancer," she stammered, holding the heavy pistol as well as she could in her shaking hands.

"I…I'm not a…a Freelancer," Doc replied, gritting his teeth to fight off the immense pain in both arms.

"Well you sure do like one!" she countered, jabbing the gun at him more forcefully.

"I swear to you I'm not a Freelancer I'm a medic. My name's Medical Officer Dufrasne, UNSC."

"Well, I suppose that that's better than those damned Freelancers," she responded still wary of the injured medic, "Was that your ship that crashed into the city and flooded my hospital with these patients?"

"Unfortunately, sorry about that, we had no one but Cab…oh…that's why it happened," Doc reflected.

"What?" she asked gripping the pistol tightly as she grew more paranoid that the medic was keeping secrets from her.

But as Doc was about to answer three people in armor burst in, two in heavy armor and another in a lighter pilot model. They each trained their weapons on the white clothed and armed doctor who was threatening their teammate.

"Drop your weapon!" Wash yelled sighting the crosshairs on the scared face of the woman.

"Hands where we can see 'em!" Jenny added, following suit.

The doctor dropped the pistol to the ground and let it clatter on the tile and cringed at the prospect of being killed by these soldiers. She put her hands up weakly and dropped to her knees.

"Pl…please don't I'm just a doctor," she babbled as the other employees backed against the wall to stay away from the faceless soldiers.

"Wash she's a doctor, don't!" Doc yelled trying to keep them from killing the defenseless and very attractive young woman who was just defending her patients and her hospital.

"Wash," Jenny whispered, "she is just a doctor, and we did just wreck the whole city she has good reason to be paranoid add that to the Freelancers' rampage and you've got a frustrated group of rebel civilians."

"Fine," Wash grumbled snatching up the pistol to make sure that no one would try anything funny.

"Doc, you alright bro?" Vic asked kneeling next to Doc.

"Not…not really, I think I dislocated my shoulder and my arm is definitely broken."

"Wash, that's not good at all," Jenny replied to this news. This news also elicited a reaction from the doctor, who was getting up and dusting herself off.

"I can help, I mean I am a qualified surgeon."

"Wash, none of us have very good medical training except Doc and that's stretchin' it, we could use the help and frankly she's offering," Jenny pleaded in an even tone.

Wash sighed and nodded to the young woman who put on her game face and got to work, she called over to a large male nurse to help her get the injured man on his feet. As she was moving with the stumbling Doc she was grabbed roughly by Wash who then motioned for Vic to come over.

"Vic here is coming with Doc wherever he goes and he will not hesitate if you try and pull anything funny. Got it?"

The woman narrowed her eyes and shrugged out of Washington's grip and looked him dead in the visor, "Don't you ever accuse me of trying to murder my patients. Now if you'll excuse me I have a patient."

She turned around with Vic right behind her holding her confiscated pistol on his hip.

"Waaaaaaash~, you're being cold again" Jenny sang as she walked up behind him.

"I am not!" Wash yelled back. Jenny broke into laughter and contained it quickly.

"I'm teasing Wash, relax" Jenny poked at his chest. She lowered her tone and looked into his visor.

"Just remember not to be, ok?"

"I will" Wash responded, grabbing her hand quickly and squeezing it.

"Now come on, security shouldn't be far, we can look for some way out" Jenny said and led him forward through the hospital, finally making it into the dimly lit security room, a large hologram active atop of a plotting table.

The hologram flickered slightly as Wash touched the controls, the image updating the current look of the building. Even through the hologram, they cringed at the destruction the med bay of the _Misfit_ caused. It tore into two different pieces and slammed into the hospital, tearing giant chunks of wards from the building. Small glowing orange pixel fires seemed to dot the entire place, but some of the main wards seemed to be untouched. Wash tapped in some instructions and the small white figures of Doc and that doctor showed up. Vic's came up a second later, some lengths away from Doc.

"Wash, there's landing pads, look" Jenny pointed to the small black platforms jutting out. There were five in total, and one was just nearby, hell, they could run to it.

"Good catch Jen" congratulated Wash.

"Ok, so we have pads, we could get birds here for us" offered Jenny.

"It would be almost impossible; Command tried to kill us, and they almost killed you. I won't take a risk like that"

"Still, we could get something off-planet, right?"

"We could, but it would be fucked up to high-hell, the storm's blocking us"

"Hurricane Wash," corrected Jenny, "plus, how in the hell does a hurricane just so happen brew when we want to get inside the city?"

"It does seem a bit odd"

"Yeah, plus I didn't know storms like this got to this! Does this planet even get storms like this?" asked Jenny, who began to stare out into the storm through a close window.

"I'm pretty sure storms like this happen once in a blue fucking moon." Wash joined her, jus watching pieces of metal fly with the wind and rain pelt everything relentlessly.

"Hey wash?" asked Jenny.

"Yea?"

"What are those?" She pointed out into the storm, two small glowing lights breaking through the thick of it.

"Oh fuck, what does the hologram show?" came Wash's rushed response. Jenny sprinted up to it and watched the red shape take its place outside the building, and the course of it came up, followed by a flashing warning.

"Pelican! Headed for our platform!"

The two soldiers dashed to the platform where the Pelican was en route and took cover behind the desk that provided the adequate processing for incoming patients. They waved for the nurses at the desk to run so no one got hurt. Wash and Jenny waited anxiously for the glass doors with the medical Red Cross on them to slide open. It didn't take long and the large gray Pelican landed gracefully in the raging storm and howling winds and opened up its landing bay to disgorge its occupants, a half dozen gray and white Freelancer Troops. The soldiers hurried inside to avoid the powerful wind and rain from blowing them clean off the roof. The six men made it to the doors and ran in as the glass doors parted for them.

"Damn, that weather's bad," one of them said as he shook his rifle to get the water out of the action.

"Of course it's bad it's a fucking hurricane what'd you expect?"

"Don't have to be an asshole about it."

Washington and Jenny popped up and took the men by surprise and cut them down with a few brutal shots to the chest that cut through their armor and killed them easily. Jenny targeted the men on the side with her sniper rifle and blew the men off their feet easily and threw them against the wall where their blood stained the white paint.

"Quick, get the pilot before they figure out what's happening," Washington ordered jumping over the desk and out into the rain and wind to the Pelican sitting on the pad.

Thankfully the storm had prevented the pilot from hearing the gunshots that had taken the lives of the soldiers she had dropped off and Four-Seven-Niner was a bit surprised when a knock was heard on the door to the cabin of her Pelican. She put her helmet back on after trying to get a little sleep in the pilots' seat to make up for the many lost hours of sleep that the Director's plan had robbed her of. She heard the knock again and began grudgingly moving back to the door to open it and slug the first man to walk in for disrupting her cat nap.

"Alright I'm comin' jeez, what's the rush?"

She pushed the button to open the doors and was taken aback by the flurry of wind that blasted her and the rain that slammed into her not-so-waterproof white pilot's armor. But when she regained her composure she saw not six or one of the grey and white troopers she'd dropped off, she instead was faced with the barrel of a large barreled Sniper Rifle poking her visor. The barrel dripped from the end down the length of the barrel leading to a soldier in cobalt and dark blue armor, Mk VI armor. It was one of two things in Four-Seven's mind; Spartans, the terror of the UNSC, rumor had it a new class of them had just been deployed. Or it was a Blue, in cases like this the Blues had been very unpredictable, they ranged from the live and let live attitude of the Blues in Blood Gulch she'd heard about or it was the kill first ask questions later, after tea-bagging, Blues of Battle Creek that no Freelancer had dared to go near. (With Reds the procedure was always the same, capture and interrogate) The Blue was obviously a girl, and there was another figure next to the Blue, a man in gray and yellow armor. Her suspicions were confirmed when the man spoke.

"Hands up, out of the bird."

"Wash? Is that you," she asked, startled at the voice of a supposed dead-man.

"Yeah, it's me, out, now!"

Four-Seven gladly walked out and kept her hands halfway up in surrender; she still had no idea what kind of Blue she was dealing with. So she played along and followed Wash into the hospital. She'd been sent to drop off some troops to set up a comm relay post in the high rise buildings. It didn't take long before she'd figured out what had happened to the troopers she was sent to drop off. They were all dead, bleeding on the pristine white floors of the hospital's tile and were now being toted off to be dealt with by a pair of hospital employees, although the blood remained. She shuddered at the thought and kept moving at the behest of the Blue's poking Sniper Rifle in her back. She was ushered into a room where a man in green pilot armor was sitting with an Assault Rifle across his lap.

Wash shoved her down to the ground where the Blue cuffed her arms in place behind her back. _Well, at least it's not a Battle Creek Blue_, she thought to herself. She heard the man listening to Wash tell him to guard their prisoner while they talk with Doc? _Great they have one of those damn medics with them as well._ She heard a name she never thought she'd hear again, in the middle but it went by too fast and too quietly for her to be certain, but she tried to listen in as best she could until the two armed captors left the room, and left her under guard.

"Soo…" said her guard, shifting with his pilot armor.

"Never thought I would be captured" grumbled Four-Seven, shifting against the cuffs and trying to find a spot she was comfortable in.

Those words made Vic flinch.

"What a sec, dude….." He turned to face her finally, memories flooding his thoughts as the words passed through him.

"Not possible…." whispered Four-Seven. Both were immersed in flashbacks and old memories as they figured out who each other were again.

"Vic…."

"Four-Seven…"

They just stared at each other for a good time, almost unable to comprehend how they could have met again.

"So Freelancer, huh?" asked Vic. Four-Seven chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, they said I was the best for piloting 'round the agents for missions, so….I joined. Where did you go?"

"Central Command for communications between Blood Gulch bases."

"Not bad, I think….I thought, since that day…"

"That day didn't change anything Four-Seven." Vic retorted, not wanting to relive that memory of them both.

"I know, but…." The words 'I still worry' caught in her throat, not wanting to press the issue.

"You ok, though?" Vic asked.

"Well, I'm handcuffed and losing the feeling of my head…." She muttered. Vic stood up from his chair and went to her side, clicking the seals of her helmet off and pulling it off, letting her sweat soaked head catch the cool air.

"Thanks Vic…"

"No problemo Four-Seven. Just repaying a debt."

"Hey, do you still even remember Vic? Those debts paid themselves off"

"Not in my book. Look, Four, what we tried in basic…."

"Can start again" whispered Four-Seven. Vic locked his eyes onto hers, barely comprehending what she said.

"You sure, 'cause I don't want to lose it again, dammit" cursed Vic, and for the first time, his somewhat childish and bashful nature dissolved.

"Our training is over, and this storm finally pulled us back. Don't you think it's finally time to do something Vic?" she reassured him, almost losing battle with her emotions at the end as her voice cracked.

"I do think it's time for something, but we're enemies."

"Screw it Vic," she shouted at him, "Our fucking duties can wait now!"

Vic didn't have a response for her in words, but with that assertion and old feelings bubbling over once more, he did respond with something of significance to them both.

He cupped her chin in his hands and laid his forehead against hers, both closing their eyes as the motion brought back good memories.

"_Yo, amigo!" shouted Vic as he raced up to her, her helmet in the crook of her arm._

"_Vic, you're supposed to be in your pelican already, what are you doing?" she questioned him as he caught up._

"_I needed to do something ok? I can't leave without this"_

"_Vic, you know our duties come first, what your doing-" Her words died out as he brought his head to hers, eyes ablaze as he did it._

"_Just remember me Four-Seven, ok?" he whispered watching her eyes close in peace._

"_I will Vic" she replied and moved away from him._

"_Good luck ma'am" he finally said, giving a salute which was returned._

"_Thank you sir" she replied, ignoring the small tears escaping her. She turned and continued her walk toward her bird. She turned one last time to Vic, who was watching her go through the window. She waved quickly and jumped in._

_Vic smiled as the bird took off out of the hangar bay._

"I did remember, though," Four-Seven finally said, "It just faded for a while"

"Then I'm glad it came back" Vic said, smiling almost ear to ear at her as he decided to sit next to her and treat her to a simple chat, both comparing what they had to do in the past.

Pacifica City Commercial District, Downtown Mall 

Group 5

"Rachel, Sheila hello?" Caboose called out desperately as he searched through the ruins of the Bridge to find the girl he'd been with only a few moments ago. But now he was on the verge of panicking at not being able to find her.

As he was searching he saw a screen flicker and a voice call out.

"Sheila!" Caboose cried for joy, running over to the screen.

"_Hello Private Caboose, I downloaded my programing into the ship's black box to protect myself when I_ _computed the ship's terminal point for safety. But I cannot survive in the ship's computer core much_ _longer you will have to move me to your storage unit if I am to survive."_

"Okay," without further ado Caboose yanked the card slot that contained FILLS out and into the storage unit in the back of his head.

"Thank you Private Caboose, hmm, you seem to have quite a bit of empty space in here."

"Umm…Sheila have you seen Rachel? I can't find her anywhere."

"Of course Private Caboose, I can simply use you tactical map to find her signal," FILLS said in his head, bringing up a large map with a fuzzy blue dot in one spot and a green dot with PFC Rachel underneath it. Caboose was also overjoyed to see several red dots surrounding her dot.

"The Reds, they found her!" Caboose yelled as he began bowling through the ruins of the Bridge and into the store with FILLS, talking loudly in his ear.

"Private Caboose, my sensors indicate that those red dots are not the Reds."

"Of course they are, Red dots, red armor. It has to be the Reds and they have found my Rachel!" Caboose countered smashing through a wall to get to Rachel, who was just a few dozen meters away.

"No, they are not the Reds, they are hostiles. Private Rachel is a prisoner."

"Oh…so she's in trouble?"

"Affirmative."

"Sheila, I need to help!"

"Affirmative."

"I will go out there…"

"Negative."

"…Rescue Rachel…"

"Unlikely."

"Before they…hurt her."

Caboose stopped in his tracks, comprehending what it was he had just realized. He stared straight ahead and ignored the pounding rain coming down on him in buckets and the flashing of lightning and dying lights and sparking power lines. He began shaking and his fists balled together and shook as the animal-like fury began to build and boil over. The only girl who he had ever truly loved, that was actually human and not his mom, was in terrible danger. And danger meant she could be hurt or killed. And that thought made him…ANGRY.

**June F: Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuck!**

**Lily: What? What's goin' on June?**

**June F: Caboose….he's…fuuuck…*dives away from the windows***

**Lily: Why did you dive away?**

**BIG Z: Why do you think?**

**June F: Caboose is angry again….**

**Lily: *dives away next to June***

**Vivian: I'll set up our bunker before it happens, June.**

**June F: Good, because I think this rage is going to be worse than the last one…BIG TIME…**

**Vivian: Preparing Shutdown Initiative Protocol 129 Section 6. Emergency Bunker reopening, fire protection active…..**

**BIG Z: Let me in too!**

**June F: Too late!**

**Next Chapter Preview: If ODST's got their ass kicked for **_**threatening**_** to hurt Rachel, what makes the** **Freelancers think they have a chance when they **_**actually**_** hurt Rachel?**


	14. Chapter 14

**June F: *grabs random bag of chips* Made it into the bunker in time!**

**Lily: Good, I did not want to explode.**

**Vivian: Didn't we forget someone June?**

**June F: Hmmm….**

***pounding on door***

**All Three: Big…**

**Big: *faint* Let me in please!**

**June F: Lockdown protocol is in affect Big, I can't**

**Big: *faint* I don't want to die out here!**

**Vivian: I think we should just let the readers read the chapter, shall we? We'll check in on him later**

Chapter 14

Pacifica City, Commercial District Downtown Mall

4/25/2570

2510 Hours

Group 5

Rachel sat tied to a chair in the middle of a wrecked store with all the shelves and aisles utterly wrecked and shoved against the wall in piles. The floor was a white and blue tile that weas cracked and shattered from the war going on and the damage of the _Misfit'_s ill-fated crash landing. Lights flickered on and off illuminating the floor in a ghostly blue light between flashes of the florescent bulbs and the lightning strikes. Thunder claps awoke her from her slumber of unconsciousness with a start. She snapped up and was hit by a wave of nausea from being upright and then trying to pull her head up. But she noticed that her helmet was lying in front of her about four feet away. So she tried to reach out for her helmet but immediately she noticed that her arms wouldn't follow her command. She looked down to see that her hands were tied down to the arm rests of the chair by industrial strength zip ties. Her feet were equally restrained to the metal legs of the chair and she looked around and noticed that she was not alone.

"Look who's awake boys," a man in gray and white ODST armor said, walking over to Rachel who had seen him.

Rachel glared at him as he strolled up to the young Blue and placed his hands right on top of Rachel's wrists and studied her through his gold visor. Rachel returned the stare, not moving a bit. But inside her mind was racing with worry for Caboose, Jenny, Lea, Sergey and the others. She felt her heart being broken with the thoughts of her friends being killed and left to rot by the Freelancers, not being able to do anything but sit here, tied to a chair. The man was soon joined by a quartet of other troops who watched from a few feet away as Rachel competed in the stare down with what she guessed was their leader. After a few seconds the man stood straight and crossed his arms across his chest and began questioning her in his deep filtered voice.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here Blue?" he asked.

Rachel couldn't have answered him if she had wanted to but they didn't know that so when Rachel just glared at them in silence the lead trooper clenched his fists and brought them down to his sides and repeated the question.

"I'm warning you girl, you don't want to play this game with me. Now, who are you and the what the fuck are you doing here?" he hissed, coming a step closer.

Rachel was in no mood to be threatened, in an act of defiance, she spat right at the man's feet. The others looked to the spit by the man's feet, then to the furious leader and then to Rachel who was scowling at the Freelancer troopers. In an act of brutality the soldier swung his left fist into Rachel's face and connected right on her jaw. She spun and took the chair to the ground with her. She tasted the coppery bitterness of blood in her mouth and felt the pain of the armored fist's attack on her jaw line but she just gasped and felt the chair being put back up into a position where the man could continue. He bent over, not an inch away, and said to her.

"Alright then, this is how this will work: Every time you refuse to answer I add a punch, if you keep it up we'll move to knives. But if you still refuse, well… let's just say that you won't enjoy it but…we on the other hand…"the man turned back to his squad to make sure his message was clear. But as he turned back to Rachel he unloaded a brutal jab into her gut that she felt through her under layer and she doubled over in pain, gasping for breath, "now answer my question!"

Rachel just stayed bent over and tried to look up at him but as she began looking up the man brought his knee to her face and knocked backwards onto the ground where her head made contact with the pavement and she began seeing stars as the group began to huddle up a bit more as two of them grabbed the chair and brought it back to its place. Rachel could feel the warmth of the blood dribbling down her lip and onto her cheek. Her nose had a trail of blood going down from it as well and the blood just went over her lips and down her chin and dropped from there onto her dark blue suit. Again the man reeled back and smashed her cheek bone with a forceful punch. Her head snapped back with a blow that she could feel broke the skin as she felt the sting of air meeting an open wound. She gasped for air and prayed for the pounding to stop. But she could hardly see as she looked up with blurry eyes and could feel herself start to wobble a bit as the pounding subsided for a moment while the man was handed a large Bowie Knife.

"You asked for it," he flaunted, waving the knife before her face.

But as she tried to focus she didn't notice the man begin to bring the knife to her cheek because the ground was shaking. Apparently she wasn't imagining things because the Freelancer Troopers began to look about in confusion as the rumbling from behind her grew louder and the vibrations became more noticeable. The man took a step back as Rachel gathered herself for whatever it was that was coming from behind her as the noise became more like bangs of a ram hitting a wall and cleaving clean through it.

"What the Hell is that?" one of the men yelled, grabbing his rifle and aiming it at the source of the sound.

"Hold your position!" their leader gruffly ordered them, holding his Assault Rifle ready to fire at the shaking wall.

But as he said that the shaking and pounding stopped, and the only sounds making it to their ears were the roar of the rain and the booms of the thunder accompanied by the howling of gusts of hurricane force wind. The men backed up as the quiet reigned on them and gnawed at their nerves mercilessly. But when just as it seemed quiet, the wall behind the four men in the back of the room practically collapsed as a lone Blue figure smashed into the wall and attacked the unaware Freelancer Troopers. The figure carried a single Assault Rifle and used it with brutal efficiency. The first man to fall was hit in the back of the head by the figure's Assault Rifle and as he fell the rifle was turned and belched a burst of fire right into the man's back, killing him instantly. The rifle was then turned on the men to his left, and the attacker fired another burst into the closest man who took the whole magazine of bullets to his chest and was driven back by the constant wet pounding of the bullets tearing into his body until the magazine clicked to empty and the dead body fell with a wet thud and the blood began pooling rapidly as the slaughter continued. Rachel watched as the other man on the left tried to fire a quick rushed shot at the blue menace but was grabbed roughly and tossed against the other man behind the blue and both hit each other and were sent careening into the wall where the blue man pulled out a Magnum and emptied the clip into the men's bodies and left them to bleed and die in the corner before turning back to the last Freelancer Soldier who was holding his rifle in hand but the only sounds coming out were clicks. The gun was empty, and his fate was sealed. The giant charged him as the soldier pulled out a knife and slashed at the soldier who expertly grabbed the man's wrist and squeezed hard enough for Rachel to hear the man's bones pop and snap. The knife clattered to the ground and the large Blue that was Caboose lifted the man into the air and brought the screaming trooper down on his knee with a sickening crunch and snap as the man's spine was broken like a toothpick. Caboose then turned to Rachel who was still tied to the chair and snapped out of his current state of blood lust.

"Rachel!" He immedially ran to her side, hands already fast at work to pull the ties binding her off. Her head, bloodied and bruised, lent to one side, her eyes closed blind to him and the world as his fingers tried to grip the small zip ties.

"Rachel, can you hear me? It's not the time for a nap!" he yelled at her, gaining only the response of silence, and not a single movement from her. He looked up at her face, observing the multiple cuts and blood streams decorating it. He brushed his fingers across the largest gash on her cheek.

"She's out cold. Sheila?"

"Yes, Private Caboose?" FILSS responded automatically.

"I need your help so I can help Rachel." He grabbed her out of his helmet, and just held it looking for her blue helmet.

"There it is" he whispered as he grabbed the helmet a few feet from him with two fingers, pulling it up to him and inserting FILSS into it.

"Fix Rachel, FILSS" he instructed, putting the helmet back on Rachel. The AI noted his words quickly as his hidden intelligence revealed itself for the sake of this Blue.

"Complying…" She immedially accessed the damage done and took quick action, activating her systems and bio-foam containers.

"Come on Rachel, wake up" he briskly whispered as he popped one wrist tie off, squeezing her hand before moving to her right wrist, his fingers pushing and pressuring the ties to break. The right one seized but refused to break, so he moved to her ankle ties, those snapping off without much pressure. He finally returned to her right hand, shoving both his thumbs against it to make it snap under his hands. It didn't take long for them to completely seize and snap.

Rachel, released of her bonds to the chair, fell forward right into Caboose's arms. He immedially wrapped his arm around her and placed his other hand on the back of her helmet, letting her limp head rest on his shoulder.

"FILSS, did you do it?" he whispered against the helmet. Her voice filtered through her external speakers.

"I've done what I could, Private Caboose." He scooted backward on his knees, turning as they approached the closest unbroken wall and laid Rachel against it, tugging FILSS out of her helmet and back into his. He took her helmet off and laid it next to them, his hand moving to her chin.

"Come on Rachel, come back" No response was heard. He gripped her shoulders instead, shaking her just enough to not injure her more.

"Wake up Rachel!" He pleaded. She still did not respond back. He tugged her helmet off and set it roughly next to hers as he moved up in front of her and lifted her head against his.

"Please Rachel, please come back…" he whispered, hanging on the bitter edge of tears, their cold sting threatening to topple over.

"Please…" he pleaded once more, closing his eyes and letting a single tear falling from his eyes, the silent drop of water sliding down his cheek, and falling down onto her armor, splatting across a dot of blood on it.

A single second of deadly silence fell, but was swept away with the sudden gentle wind around them as her eyes finally fluttered slowly, and opened to meet his staring at her with sadness.

"R-Rachel?" he croaked out, eyes filled with joy, overwhelming joy. She smiled with already built up tears and nodded, and for the first time in years wished she could say something.

"Thank god, you're ok" he whispered in her ear as both of them hugged tightly, her tears overflowing onto his armor. She pulled back just enough to meet his blissfully smiling face and kissed him, overwhelmed to see that it was him that saved her from a horrific fate.

He did not hesitate as she did kiss him, wrapping his arms tighter around her as he kissed her back with every emotion he could feel, just feeling Rachel in his arms and ignoring the devastating destruction and seemingly unending hurricane around them.

And for that single moment, the two felt completely at peace.

Pacifica City, Military Armory 

The company of Rebels fought hard but the Freelancers and their troops along with their three Warthogs and a single Scorpion tank that currently assaulted them in the middle of the city near Military Armory Number 12 had them beat and they knew it. They fired their weapons from behind cover, shooting and scooting as they'd been trained to do taking a few Freelancer troops with them but losing a great many of their own in the bloody process. So when the Rebels saw two Scorpions roll up they immediately thought they were saved. But the Scorpions lowered their main 95 mm cannon and let loose a single round that exploded in their midst and sent bodies, shrapnel and flame everywhere that they fired. The Rebels were taken by surprise, they kept fighting but they were slaughtered by the two surprise visitors that arrived from behind the wrecked wall that separated the two combatants in the storm. The two guns cracked loudly, defying even Mother Nature in the amount of destruction being unleashed. The Freelancers stopped to watch the two tanks turn loose on the very unfortunate Rebel defenders who took cover behind barricades of metal, concrete, fallen debris from the Frigate that had crashed and the buildings it had crashed into. The Rebels retreated into the main box-like building as the two tanks rolled up behind the Freelancers and their troops. The Freelancers in charge of this particular unit, Agents Kansas and Nevada, walked to the tanks and got within fifteen yards of them when they saw a pair of markers on the noses of the tanks. Needless to say, the two experienced Agents were not happy when they saw the lightning illuminate the red, white, and black Cobra of Red Army and the blue white and black Phoenix of Blue Army. The tanks guns slewed around to point at the Freelancer Scorpion and the lead tank actually spoke.

"G'day!"

…And fired with enough concussive force to knock the two Freelancers off their feet and daze them enough to force them to take cover as the two tanks began destroying their forces. Their Scorpion was torn apart in the opening salvo. An AP round hit right below the turret cooking off the ammo and launching the turret clean off the hull and making it land on an abandoned Police Cruiser nearby. The other tank fired a HE round into the Rocket Hog and sent the vehicle tumbling and killed the crew of three instantly in a massive fireball that singed ten other troopers very badly. The two tanks rolled forward like rolling death machines firing their coaxial machine guns with brutal efficiency. A dozen soldiers were cut down as they dashed about the street, trying desperately to find suitable cover form the tanks' onslaught. The two Freelancers weren't armed with heavy weapons capable of taking down a tank, everything they had meant for heavy duty vehicles got wiped out in the first volley. They watched helplessly as the last Warthogs were decimated, sending one through the air to land with a sickening crunch on top of a running trooper. They saw his arm poking out from under the wreckage reach out desperately then the arm crumpled to the ground.

Finally the two tanks moved away and out of sight. But what the two Freelancers were waiting for didn't come. The two had been waiting for the Red and Blue infantry to follow up with the tanks but they instead sat there wondering where they were.

"This is weird," Kansas said.

"Agreed, the Reds and Blues never sent out their tanks alone, they always had infantry support, at least at the bases I was assigned to for a while."

"Let's follow them, they'll lead us to their support and their CO's."

The two Freelancers followed the enormous tanks as they trudged along and…talked to each other? The two thought the same thing, Smart Tanks.

"_What do you think there Sheila? How many kills would you guess we got now?" _

"_I have compiled twenty-six infantry and four vehicle kills. What about you Monty?"_

"_Oh, let's take a look at the record than doll. Here we are, thirty infantry and three vehicles including a Scorpion tank. A shame though, rest in peace mate, you were worthy target practice."_

Kansas and Nevada shared an equally confused look that said it all.

"_What the fuck is wrong with these people?"_

**June F: *crying* God, that scene between Rachel and Caboose was so touching…**

**Vivian: Yes, it was, but my god….What Caboose did…**

**Lily: HE SNAPPED A SPINE IN TWO! *grabs the popcorn bowl***

**June F: *sniffles* It was brutal. But….**

**Vivian: But….**

***All Gasp***

**All: BIG!**

***they open the bunker door to find mutilation Big on the door***

**Vivian: That's disgusting!**

**Lily: Cool *sick and twisted mother fu-***

**June F: *grabs evil keyboard* Great I got to rebuild him, Lily grab him and drag him into the writing room ok?**

**Lily: *eyes shine* Ok, boss lady~ *chucks what's left of Big onto her shoulders***

**Vivian: That's going to take a while….*fades into writing room***

**Next Chapter Preview: The Freelancers close in on our coincidental heroes, but Sarge, Carmen, and the Chupathingy 2.0 will have something to say about that.**


	15. Chapter 15

**June F: Ok, set Big down here *points at what looks like an electric chair***

**Vivian: *pops in* How do you get one of those?**

**Lily: Kinky….*set Big down***

**June F: Don't go that way Lil…**

**Lily: Fine, what are you doing?**

**June F: My keyboard got fucked up, so I have to revive him the old fashioned way…**

**Vivian: This does not look good. Don't do this June!**

**June F: I have to! Lily, I need you to hold this and Big's mutilated hand…*hands Lily a large cord***

**Lily: *takes it and Big's hand* Why?**

**June F: Bitch 'bout to be shocked! *presses button***

**Vivian: We should give you guys the chapter before you see this *chuckles dryly and opens the chapter***

Chapter 15

New Solstice, Pacifica City, under Lookout Highway Turnpike

4/25/2570

0200 Hours

Group 1

The seven men and women and Elite strong team hid quietly under the ruins of a collapsed turnpike along with the numerous cars and motorcycles that were on it when it fell to a large explosion in the opening hours of the Freelancers' attack on Pacifica City. But what the average person would be hard pressed to see were the openings below the wreckage that led to the underground subway system where the team was moving through the city to stay hidden and stay out of the weather. They had to keep their weapons trained on the occasional openings where the rain and weather poured in. Currently Junior was out in front, jumping from perch to perch with Tucker and Lea behind him on the uneven, debris strewn ground. In the middle, Simmons was helping Grif forward due to Grif fracturing an ankle, thanks in part to a handy Scanner that Lisa had borrowed from Doc's Med Bay. Holding up the rear were the twins, Liz and Lisa who constantly bickered about where to go until someone ordered the two of them to shut up.

"Can we take a break, please?" Grif grumbled.

"Seriously? I'm helping you walk here Grif! And you're asking for breaks!" Simmons groaned at him.

"Hey, I only have one good leg right now."

"And I'm doing the work of three!"

"So you're saying that you want to take a break too," Grif tried to point out.

"Fine, let's stop for a little bit." Simmons conceded.

"Sounds alright to me," Tucker replied up front.

The group all stopped as one and shuffled over to the wall on their right and sat down to catch their breath. The Reds all faced toward the rear where all they saw was dripping water, flashing power conduits, and the ever present dark hiding who knew what. But as the Reds all settled down next to one another they couldn't help but feel secure with so many "friends" nearby.

"Hey guys…"Lisa finally broke the somewhat stirred silence between them.

"What's up Lisa?" Simmons asked.

"Have you guys been up against an AI before?" she asked back.

"We had to chase one, then blew it up, sort of" Grif groaned, rubbing his head as he grimly remembered the damn fucked-up adventure.

"Wow, now I'm interested. Which AI?" Liz jumped in, peering around her sister.

"Omega, or O'Malley, the damn freak show" Grif replied. Simmons chuckled.

"Grif, how many times did you get punched in the balls again?" Simmons asked in-between small bursts of laughter.

"Don't remind me" Grif groaned.

"Ok, now this is impossible to resist. Explain, explain boys" Lisa said, waving a hand at them as they both groaned in unison.

"Where do we start, Church's fucked up body or the teleporters?" Grif asked her comrade.

"Let's just summarize it, it's too long, and too many people saying dirtbag" Simmons replied and turned back to the girls.

"O'Malley wanted to take over the universe, so he infected Doc again, paired up with Wyoming and got us to follow." Grif started their summary.

"So we went through our teleporter in Blood Gulch, and somehow the teleporter was fucked up and teleported us all different places."

"We all had different things to worry about, then we all finally found each other thanks to Simmons and Sarge."

"Damn" both twins said.

"Still, we did get to O'Malley, and Church at this point, finds out he has a huge ass bomb in his stomach" Simmons continued.

"Wait, a fucking bomb?" Liz asked.

"Sarge put it in him to blow him up" Grif explained.

"Wyoming then shoots Tucker, and Church blows up and shoots all of us into the future and him into the past."

"And that is our tale ladies" Grif added in. Lisa chuckled lightly.

"Crap guys, that sounds like hell"

"It was" Simmons groaned.

"What 'bout you guys?" Grif asked.

"What AI was it again Liz?" Lisa asked her sister.

Liz straightened up and dug into her brain, trying to remember the AI's name.

"Wasn't it….Xi?"

"Yea, Xi"

"Xi?" Grif shot both of them a skeptical look.

"Apparently from what Command told us about her…"

"Whoa whoa whoa…her? The AI is a fucking her when the Alpha is a dude?" Simmons interrupted.

"Yea Simmons; a chick. She was apparently Alpha's femininity or something like that. She was real weak too" Lisa explained. Both guys shared shocked faces and wide eyes.

"I can't imagine why…" both quietly said. The twin's shared confused looks quickly and they both shook it off.

"So our fucked up adventure following Xi and finding…who was it? Florida?"

"Yep, us and the blues chasing Xi and meeting Florida" Liz answered, and Lisa began to explain it.

"_Come on Hippy! Move this damn 'Hog faster!" whined Carmen as she leaned as far back as she could in the shotgun seat of the Red's transport, her back aching from the long drive from their bases._

"_Calm waves Carpy. I got her floored" Hawaii coolly replied, turning to the left as the tops of the heat stacks of the reactors came into view on the horizon. The reds shuffled just a bit to the right as they did. Carmen wasn't in the greatest of spirits as the car rocked once more._

"_This thing can go faster, I know it!" Carmen groaned as the radio crackled._

"_Seriously, how fucking far is this goddamn AI Reds?" Sergey shouted into their comms, their own Warthog following behind. Rachel was primed in shotgun, shotgun in hand. Lea sat against the turret, lazily paying attention even though she was supposed to be watching for anyone to shoot at._

"_The energy facility is up ahead" came Hawaii's garbled answer a few seconds later._

"_This is a time where I miss Monty" Kate pointlessly added in, gripping her hold of her perch on the mongoose she rode on._

"_I don't think Monty would come out of this ok" Hawaii whispered._

_Kate and Jenny, who were behind the Hogs on their Mongoose, tried to hold back scared looks as their radios blared. The only defense their vehicle had was Kate's weapon, and it wasn't any turret._

"_So get ready Lea!" shouted Liz, waking Lea from her small cat nap and getting her moving, her hands curled around the triggers, the barrel warming up quick._

_The moment their Warthogs crossed the threshold of the facility's gates, alarms rung wild and loud, and a single womanly voice rung out above them._

"_Attention all personnel, enemy forces are trying to capture me, activating defenses" the woman calmly said._

"_Defenses?" shouted Kate into their radio._

_A rocket answered her and plowed her Mongoose down throwing her and Jenny off and up into the air like rag dolls._

"_Ahhh!" both screamed as they flew in the air. They landed sharply onto their backs a few feet away. Kate's head was cut open at her brow and blood oozed out, her helmet partly cracked as it fell conveniently next to her. She groaned weakly as she slowly squirmed on the ground with her hands on her face. _

_The Warthogs stopped as quickly as they could, Carmen jumping out to help Kate, while Lea jumped out to help Jenny. They each grabbed ahold of their teammate's arms and pulled desperately to get them out of the line of fire._

"_Bad move fuckers!" yelled a new voice, and another rocket followed it, soaring forward toward the parked Warthogs._

"_Fuck...bail dudes!" shouted Hawaii as he dove out of it. The rest finally heard the rocket and bailed in just enough time to evade the explosion of both Hogs, shrapnel flying everywhere as the wreckage settled._

"_Fucking shoot them assholes!" came the woman's voice again._

"_Yep, sounds like Xi" Jenny groaned as she finally got up, seemingly unharmed from the first rocket._

_Another rocket came right at where the Blues were hiding and sent shrapnel and fire raining against their cement roadblock and forced the Blues to stay down. Sergey looked back up and saw the blue and orange armor of the Freelancer shooting at them from up high on inside the building. As he saw the man duck down to reload he yelled out to his team. _

"_Run inside get out of the open!"_

"_Hey Blues, wait up you assholes!" Carmen yelled as her team ran to join them._

_The Reds ran as fast as they could with Kate being held by their strongman, Hawaii. Another rocket screamed down just as they made it into the room and the concussion of the explosion threw Carmen and Liz to the ground as the automatic door hissed closed. The Reds rushed to the only door into the position where the Blues had already begun running out of._

"_They've gotten inside, do something!" Xi yelled out again. _

"_Hey, Blue boy!" Carmen yelled grabbing Sergey by the arm, "What the Hell!"_

"_What!"_

"_Why the fuck did you leave us out there to get our asses kicked…"_

"_With wounded," Hawaii added._

"_Well too bad girl, that's war!" Sergey ripped his arm out of her grasp and followed his team._

"_Piece of shit!" Carmen screamed aiming her shotgun at Sergey._

_The Shotgun fired as the door closed and the bullets slammed into the metal doors and left deep gouges that almost passed through the door and gave the Blues ample time to let them know that the Reds had decided to go back to the way they normally did things. _

_The Blues turned tail after and ran when Rachel fired a blast of her own Shotgun into the control panel and disabled the door entirely. But when they turned the corner a solid beam of red shot out of the door and slammed through the wall that Jenny had just gotten past. The fight was on._

_The Reds went after the Blues at a furious pace with Hawaii bringing up the rear. The Blues turned and fired as they ran into a door that Xi had locked down to protect herself. The Blues were trapped, but when Hawaii kneeled to take another shot Rachel had a not-so-bright idea. She jumped up and let the red pointer laser rest on her and as she thought the weapon reached its maximum charge she ducked to the side and the bolt ripped through the bulkhead and into the reactor room. The large towers that were the highly unstable cores hummed with activity as the Reds and Blues brought their battle into the most dangerous place on the whole continent._

"_You idiots you'll kill us all!" Xi screamed as the Reds pursued the Blues._

_But Hawaii was caught off guard by an equally sized opponent slamming him from the side and throwing both huge Freelancers to the ground level. Florida rolled off of Hawaii and assumed his highly disciplined fighting stance. Hawaii was quick to his feet and they both faced off. Both Freelancers were the biggest that the project had ever recruited and were the most powerful. They were identical in every way but their character and their color. Whatever piece of kindness Hawaii had Florida matched it with pure hate that rivaled even Omega. They'd never met but had heard of each other and they both knew that this day was coming. _

_The two giants charged at each other and slammed into one another with the force of a Spartan hitting a semi-truck. The two men pounded each other with vicious punches and elbows and kicks that immediately started damaging the armor itself. As the two continued their own fight the two teams were having their own private war. _

_A single sniper bullet grazed Lisa's visor and she screamed quickly and ducked down, much to the enjoyment of her sister._

"_That's not funny!" Lisa shouted._

"_Fuck yeah it is."_

"_Alright fine, stick your head out then!"_

_Liz stood to fire a burst from her Assault Rifle and received a BR burst that clipped he shoulder plate and ricocheted off and into the ceiling. _

"_Fuck this!" Liz screamed, and moved for her only grenade, and activated it._

_The grenade was a plasma._

"_Oh fucking shit!" hollered Lisa as she went to dive away._

_Florida, who had just enough time between Hawaii's assault of attacks, caught sight of Liz's grenade._

"_You dumbass!" screamed Florida._

_Liz chucked the grenade passed her sister and into toward the cluster of Reds, the hiss of it passing everyone's ears as it missed everyone and flew into the last place thought of._

_It stuck to one of the main reactors._

_It exploded into an array of purple and blue plasma and white light, the shockwave created knocking everyone back and onto their asses. The entire room flickered into blackness for seconds on end. The moment the lights began to flicker, she screamed._

_Xi's shrill, high-pitched, deathly scream hit the air and their ears like lightning. Everyone struggled to cover their ears from it as it continued. Her voice made her situation obvious; the explosion of the reactor was killing her. They were on the edge of losing their eardrums as her voice cracked bad, and snapped off with the lights as they died out for good._

"_XI!" Florida was up and running for the AI as quickly as the rest of the reactors began to overload._

"_Florida!" Hawaii was at the same pace, following him into Xi's hiding and soon resting place._

_The Reds and Blues ran for dear life as the building shook and the lights flickered. They ran through the ruins that fell from the ceilings and walls and made all due haste for anywhere but there. But Hawaii was still fighting his rival._

"_Give it up Hawaii! You're done! Surfers don't belong in battle!" Florida taunted as he yanked out Xi from a console and stored her away, "I'll also say hi to Alaska for you, and let her know that you've moved on."_

"_No, you won't!" Hawaii slammed into the Freelancer and sent both giants through the wall and outside where a Pelican was descending and a pair of Freelancers were already getting out and pointing their weapons at Hawaii in an attempt to save him from, what they thought, was a Red. Florida kicked Hawaii square in the jaw and made a break for the Pelican. He made it there and the two Recovery Agents ran in to join him. But as the Pelican lifted off the pilot saw a red line on his left forward thruster. Hawaii pressed the trigger down hard to get the SPARTAN Laser charged and saw the explosion of the beam hitting the Pelican's engine and seeing it topple from the sky._

"_Tell Alaska about that dude."_

"And that….is our story boys" Lisa finished.

The boys exchanged looks once more, and Grif finally cracked a smile.

"You chucked a sticky grenade at your sister…."

"Yes" Liz replied.

"In a fucking reactor room?"

"Yeah…..not my best idea" Liz said, running her right hand through her hair.

"You still got the AI though, and the Freelancer!" Simmons put in, receiving a small smile from Liz as she lifted her head a bit.

"Well…Hawaii killed them both. It was awesome to watch that explosion before watching the real fireworks" Lisa said.

"The place exploded didn't it?" Grif asked plainly.

"Yep" Liz answered, popping the 'p' at the end.

"Wish I could've seen that show" Simmons said. Both girls smiled at each other and continued on, giving off detail after detail about the explosion as they literally ran for the hill for their lives.

On the other side of the tunnel sat both Blues, excluding Junior, who was taking a patrol quickly a few feet away, never straying far from the duo.

"Hey Tucker, I was wondering something…" asked Lea, pulling one knee up against her chest as she watched Junior move around like a predator.

"Wonderin' what?"

"How did Junior…come into existence?"

Tucker chocked on the air he breathed. He had hoped with all he could that she wouldn't ask about Junior.

"You ok Tucker?"

"No, I'm dying…." Lea scoffed and scooted up next to him as he coughed out the strangled breathe he held with everlasting life.

"Come on, something 'bout you and him is weird. What do you have with Junior?" she continued to prod.

"You really want to know?" Tucker hacked out, finally getting his stuck breathe free of his windpipe.

"That's why I'm asking, numbnuts, now spill!"

"….he's my son" was all he whispered. Lea shot backward a bit, her eyes blinking like she was a blind man seeing the world again. She shook it off quickly and chuckled low.

"That's not possible, and I know you're not that desperate"

"It's true Lea, I'm being fucking truthful about this, Junior is my son" Tucker said, not moving his eyes from Junior as he caught sight of his father's distress.

"…You're serious?" Lea whispered. Tucker nodded without a word and hefted out a long sigh.

"Just believe me ok? If I explain, you'll just be more confused…" Tucker set his head into his hands, sighing again as Junior's footsteps grew closer.

"Ok…I believe you…" Lea said and curled up against him again, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you" Tucker whispered as Junior came up and eyed them both. Tucker nodded and smiled at him. Junior nodded and gave a silent 'blarg' and turned once more toward their opening of their tunnel.

"Honk…" he growled.

"What's up Junior?" Junior turned to Tucker again as they heard what Junior had caught.

On both sides of the tunnel, the team could hear footsteps and voices as the source drew closer their position. One Tucker's side they saw a large force of Rebel Soldiers carrying light small arms, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, a Sniper Rifle, and assorted pistols. The Rebels moved cautiously, weapons trained ahead of themselves, ready for anything. There were at least a couple dozen of them, all of them armed and ready.

But on the other side was perhaps a squad sized force of Freelancer Troopers led by a single Agent in dark grey and black armor. The team didn't recognize the Agent as someone they knew nor did they care, all that mattered was the fact that both sides were headed right toward one another and the Reds and Blues were caught up in the middle.

"Back up, stay hidden," Lea suggested quietly over the radio.

The team quietly backed up against the wall, hiding in minute cracks and shadowy overhangs of concrete and steel that leaned up against the wall. Junior was chomping at the bit, gripping both of his energy swords tightly and he was leaning up against his concrete cover ready to dive out and attack and kill all who stood in his way.

"_Blarg_," he growled quietly, seeing the two combatants draw closer to each other.

"Easy, there," Tucker whispered over to the Elite, grasping his own rifle rather tightly, listening to the steps of both sides come ever closer.

Their heart beats pounded in their eardrums as the seconds ticked by. Then, all at once both sides saw each other and the noise of gunfire rang out. The Rebels started shooting first, being more alert and better prepared, and drew first blood. A pair of grey Freelancer troopers was knocked clean off their feet as bursts of fire slammed into their chests. The first man was killed instantly but the second was wounded gravely. His squad ran to assist firing back at the Rebel troops who were pushing their attack from behind cover next to the hiding Reds and Blues. The Freelancers tossed grenades to force the Rebels to take cover so they could move up. The grenades went off amongst the Rebels and sent three flying over their cover to land with bloody thumps. The other Rebels were forced on the defensive as the Freelancer Agent led the way forward, wielding a pair of SMG's with ease. A Rebel took a long burst of fire and slumped up against the concrete slab Simmons and Liz were behind. The Freelancer hopped up over the pylon that the Rebels were using as cover and swept a burst over five Rebel troopers and killed them with merciless precision. His troops joined him in driving the Rebels back with concentrated fire that claimed the lives of several Rebels. But, that didn't come cheaply, a few shots struck the Freelancer Troopers where it counted and two lost their lives to lucky shots. But they were about to have one more surprise, and these surprises were still fresh and they had the flanks of both sides in their sights.

As one of the Rebels ducked down to reload he saw the unmistakable shape of an Elite staring at him. He panicked and started shooting at Junior who ducked behind the concrete and from there the cat was out of the bag and the fight escalated. The Reds and Blues popped out from behind their cover and started shooting at both the Rebels and the Freelancers. The Rebels were caught in the open and several were cut down by the Blues' fire and Junior's Plasma Grenades. At the casualties sustained from these new foes, combined with the fifty percent casualties they'd already suffered the Rebels turned and beat a hasty retreat into the dark as the continued to suffer heavy casualties.

This left the six Freelancer Troopers and the lone Freelancer Agent in a tough spot fighting an equally sized Red and Blue Team that had the jump on them. They immediately turned and fired at whatever targets they could locate. The closest trooper was shot dead by a team up attempt by Liz and Lisa and he fell forward as his comrades ran for better cover. Simmons fired a pair of bursts at a grouping of troopers and managed to get one of them before he could take cover. But the Freelancer Agent charged forward with SMG's blazing. Bullets ricocheted all around the Reds and forced them to take cover. But the Agent was not expecting a truly mammoth Elite to charge at him from his left from out of nowhere. He was swatted by a powerful back handed blow that sent him flying and down to the ground a few yards away. He watched as the Elite was engaged by his Troopers and ran for cover and disappeared. He saw a pair of Blues run out from cover and engage a pair of his own men in hand to hand combat. Lea was tackled as she jumped at the soldier and tumbled to the ground and rolled on top of him and drew her pistol and wrestled to get it on target and pull the trigger. She couldn't match his strength and felt herself losing so she did what she had done to male rivals before. She brought her knee up and smashed his balls. The soldier groaned and his grip on the pistol loosened and she twisted the pistol and pulled the trigger and shattered the gold visor. Tucker was faster with his kill, he slugged his target with his rifle and activated his sword and slashed his across the chest in one clean swipe. Grif actually managed the last kill, he simply lobbed a grenade around the corner and the man was sent over the steel beam and landed on the sloping pile of rubble and rolled down the hill into a large puddle. That's when Junior returned to the Freelancer who regained his footing as the Elite pounced from above. Junior tackled the unfortunate Freelancer and with one deft move he slashed the Freelancer's SMG's in two and pressed the assault as the Freelancer kicked at Junior and managed to regain his footing. Seeing that he had no chance and that his squad was wiped out he turned and ran as fast as he could.

"Blarg!" Junior roared as he made chase.

"Junior no, let him go. We need to get out of here," Tucker ordered before Junior got too far away.

Junior stopped and watched as the Freelancer disappeared into the dark tunnel and growled at the missed opportunity and trudged on back to the others who were gathered at the sight of their battle and where a section of highway had crashed through the ceiling and created a ramp for them to escape.

"Looks like we're stuck with going topside guys," Tucker explained.

"What? Why are we going outside into the middle of a fucking hurricane?" Grif yelled.

"Because we've been discovered by the Freelancers. We need to go someplace where they won't be able to find us," Lea explained.

"Alright, fine," Simmons grumbled, "Tucker help me out here; it's a bit hard to get Grif up that slope on my own."

"Fuck that! Someone else can carry his lazy ass."

"Dude, seriously? You expect one of us to do that?" Liz countered.

"Tucker just do it, for Christ's sake, quit being a baby," Lea supported.

"Fine."

"We'll take point," Lisa said, shouldering her rifle, receiving a push from her sister who was not in the least bit pleased with having to go out and be on point.

Both twin Reds shuffled carefully up the slick piece of highway until they reached the top and were silhouetted by the lightning of the storm. Lisa signaled them to come up. So with Tucker and Simmons helping Grif up the ramp and Junior and Lea bringing up the rear they ascended up into the heart of the storm.

Pacifica City, Harbor 

Group Two

"Sarge, we're lost aren't we?" Carmen yelled over the sound of the storm, holding on tight to her Gauss Turret to keep steady in the gale force winds.

"Of course I'm not lost!" Sarge replied bringing up the map of the city, "We're by the harbor, we need to get here," he pointed at a dot on the map, "but we just don't know how to get there. And don't even think about asking for directions!"

"_That means you're lost you moron!"_ Lopez said loudly in the driver's seat.

"Sarge," Donut called out on the radio from the Mongoose he and Kate were on, "We need to stop back here, the storm is beating the Hell out of us and Kate's getting a bit jittery."

"That's an understatement!" Kate added, her voice laced with fear at being on the back of a Mongoose.

"Sarge, there's an auto shop up there on the right. We can rest there for a bit," Carmen suggested pointing off to one of the shops to the side of the road.

"Fine, Lopez park in there, we'll rest a bit and plan our next move."

Lopez obeyed and turned the Gauss Hog sharply and steered it into the dark flickering garage of the small shop. The group couldn't see much except for a few tools and containers on shelves on the walls but their headlights shined on the broken door that led to the lobby and had a glass wall that overlooked the bay and the mainland where the Rebels were amassing heavy armor to take back their city. Donut and Kate burst in and parked next to the door as the others got out inspecting their equipment. The team was soaked to the bone, and they were all thankful to just be under a roof. Sarge immediately started giving orders, seeing that all the equipment that they could salvage was alright they needed to be on their toes.

"Donut, you and Kate head up to the next floor and get a good look out point on both sides of the building, I don't want to get caught with our pants down."

Carmen chuckled at this knowing just what Sarge looked like with his pants down.

Donut nodded and took hold of Kate's still shaking hand and silently led her up the small flight of stairs that opened into the dim observation area. Sarge watched the duo disappear above them and immedially turned to Lopez, who was already walking from the others to seal the garage up.

"You commin' Sarge?"

Sarge turned to find Carmen walking toward the lobby door.

"I don't want to be alone, and wet, in here all by myself!" shouted Carmen playfully as she yanked at the door, prying it open with a flurry of water falling off her suit.

"Damn you woman, you're goin' to be the death of me" Sarge grumbled, jogging toward the door and slipping through the hole she made.

"I knew I would get you!" cheered Carmen as he squeezed through the door, taking off his helmet and shaking it dry of rain.

"I came to plan, Carmen, don't just assume that your actions did"

Carmen tugged off her helmet and smiled at him.

"You sure? I thought I had you there," Sarge chuckled lightly and tossed a couple of loose strand of Carmen's hair back off her shoulder.

"I'll admit Kristine, It was close" Carmen blushed at the use of her first name. She went onto toes and pressed her lips gently against his.

"I just knew it" Carmen whispered against his lips. Both smiled softly at each other as Carmen stepped back, giving them both room.

"What do you plan to do?" Carmen asked, settling into the torn apart longue couch, the tattered furniture groaning under the armor's weight.

"I don't actually know yet, but I know when I figure it out, it's going to blow Lopez's arms off!" Sarge cheered, and joined Carmen on the couch, it dangerously creaking to one side.

"Blow Lopez's arms off? That's nice."

"Almost as good as codename: dirtbag…"

"Codename...Dirtbag? Oh, I have to hear this, what about this codename?" Carmen leaned forward on one elbow, another smile painted across her face.

"A full-proof plan to make Grif's life as terrible as possible! Let me explain..."

As Sarge and Carmen indulged in their private conversation, Donut was still trying to calm Kate down, who had gone into some kind of shock.

"Kate, come on, look at me," He grabbed her chin and brought her downward head up to his, staring into her blank eyes.

"We're off the Mongoose, it's over, ok?" Kate only blinked. Donut had figured out quickly that she had gone into shock, and he had no clue why, and he had only one idea to snap her out of it.

"Fuck it," he mumbled under his breathe, and grabbed hold of her chin in both hands.

"Sorry if this is sudden but…" he surged forward, closed his eyes, and kissed her. Kate's eyes shot, which had been closed, shot open, along with a suppressed gasp as she was snapped out of her trance with the feel of Donut's lips against hers. She caught on quickly after she had awoken, and closed her eyes again, moving her hands to wrap loosely around his neck.

Donut, blind to the rest of the room, felt Kate's gauntleted hands wrap themselves around his neck, and actually smiled into the kiss before pulling back, staring into Kate's blue eyes.

"Thanks Donut…." Kate whispered, giving a small smile.

"No need, but I have to ask…"

"What?"

"Why did you go into shock?" Kate blinked twice and let out a small sigh.

"Last time I was on a Mongoose, I was almost killed" Donut suppressed half of a gasp.

"You don't want to talk about it do you?" Donut asked. Kate nodded and looked down. Donut pulled her head back up to face his.

"Then that's fine. When you're ready to talk about it, tell me" Both smiled at each other quickly before Donut began to lead her to one of the huge observation windows.

"I still can't believe the Misfit did all this damage" Kate said, watching the buildings in the mainland burn with the still persistent fires left by the ship's destruction.

"I kno-…wait…" Donut squinted, trying to look farther out into the storm.

"What?"

"Those are Pelicans" Donut said, pointing out the now closer grey blobs of Pelican drop ships coming closer to them.

"Shit."

The two pink soldiers immediately ran downstairs where their superiors who were busy hovering over a hologram of the city and were trying to plan out a route to their main objective. But their large Sniper Rifles were awkward to carry and in a sudden but disastrous move they each stumbled and fell, tumbling down the stairs and raising quite a racket until the two slammed into the ground and regained their composure. Kate was the first to speak.

"Boss, we've got incoming. A dozen Pelicans, maybe more coming," she panted.

"Freelancers?" Carmen asked, standing a putting her helmet on and grabbing her shotgun.

"No way, too many, and wrong direction. They've gotta be Rebels," Donut replied.

"Could you see any vehicles attached to them?" Sarge asked, settling into the role of commander.

"I don't know. But their right on top of us now, look," Kate pointed out of the window.

Outside, a dozen large Pelican dropships hovered around the loading docks where they disgorged dozens of troops onto the docks as they fought to stay stable in the raging winds. A trio of late arriving Pelicans hovered at the entrance to the dockyards and dropped a pair of Warthogs and a large Scorpion Main Battle Tank.

Lopez walked into the lobby and saw this and groaned in his robot voice.

"_We're so fucking dead."_

**June F: *sits down in chair* Guh…My brain hurts**

**Lily: *twitch* Still *twitch* can taste *twitch* wires**

**Vivian: *pops in* What happened?**

**June F: I tried to fix him, but the electricity gave out, and parts of him didn't make it**

**Lily: So we *twitch* made him *twitch* part robot**

**June F: His left eye, right arm, and parts of his chest are now robotic**

**Vivian: Wow….I'm kind of glad I missed it**

**Big: *walks in* You have no idea, why I gave Caboose another angry scene is beyond me. Now before the half charged Triple A's June put in me die here's the Next Chapter Preview.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Rebels are about to get Sarged.**


	16. Chapter 16

**June F: BIG! I need you over here!**

**Big: What? I'm writing the next chapter for another story! It's not easy writing FOUR stories at once! **

**June: I found better batteries, and I need to fix a few 'things.**

**Big: You'll have to come over here and do it. My legs gave out because the batteries are half fucking charged.**

***Grumbles and gets up***

**Big: Hey that hurts, be careful, be careful. I'd like to live long enough to finish at least one of my stories.**

**June F: Done!**

Chapter 16

New Solstice, Pacifica City, Harbor

4/25/2570

0325 Hours

Group 2

"Lopez, bring up the Hog!" Sarge ordered.

"_As if I'm going outside_," Lopez retorted not moving from his spot.

"Sarge," Carmen said, "I've got an idea. What if we pulled the Hog into the lobby?"

"Now there's an idea," Kate agreed, siding with her CO.

"I like it, Lopez!"

"Si."

"Bring her in."

Lopez hopped into the Warthog and while he started it up Sarge ordered the two pink snipers to the second floor to take positions and prepare for battle. Meanwhile, Lopez was being directed into the lobby and through the weak walls by Carmen. The Warthog smashed through the weakened plaster walls with ease and almost clipped Carmen in the process of ramming through the wall to get into position. Dust billowed in the air as the Lopez got out and manned the gun and Sarge and Carmen ran out the door and took cover behind the wreckage of a destroyed Hornet.

"You ready Sarge?" Carmen asked.

"Of course I'm ready Corporal! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Sarge!" Donut said over the mic, "I see a bunch of flying thingy's coming this way."

"They're firing!"

The flight of four Hornets came blazing in at full throttle. The main force of Rebels didn't even see their doom approaching. The Hornets unleashed a flurry of missiles both from their own launchers and the mounted soldiers on the sides. The Rebel soldiers were obliterated before they could even fire a shot. The explosions shook the very ground as the mass of infantrymen swarmed towards Sarge and Carmen while the Rebels' Scorpion brought it gun to bear on the enemy. The Hornets were already in hover and were firing away, tearing into the Rebel troops whose bodies littered the street and platform that they ran on. The blood flowed as the heavy caliber rounds tore the armor and flesh apart. The flashes of lightning illuminated the Hornets and their riders like spooky birds of prey. But when the Rebels finally got their bearings thanks to some of their surviving NCOs the fight became far more two sided.

A single shot from the Scorpion boomed out, trying to compete with Mother Nature's howling winds. The Hornet on the far right was hit in its port engine and ballooned into a fantastic fireball as the fire ignited the fuel in the aircraft's tanks. The craft fell into the water and the fire was quickly extinguished in the swells of the ocean. The other three began taking evasive action to avoid the same fate but the middle left Hornet was quickly on fire thanks to the accurate fire the Rebels' Warthogs' fifty caliber machine guns. The heavy rounds tore out entire pieces of the hull and killed the unfortunate troopers on the platforms who were just barely hanging by the cable that held them to the bird. But the Hornet continued firing until a burst of fire shattered the cockpit canopy and killed the pilot. Without its controller the Hornet plunged into a warehouse on the dock and spun off the building and into a loading crane where the vehicle's engines caught fire and the Hornet began to burn. But the Warthogs were just as unfortunate, the remaining Hornets fired a pair of rockets right into the vehicles as the Rebel troops took cover behind them. The explosion consumed most of the men and women who were thrown in all directions, dead. The Scorpion however, was not finished. It fired a 95 millimeter AP round that tore off the wing of the right Hornet and sent it and its three crewmen into the ocean. That left the last Hornet to face off against the king of all Human vehicles, alone. But the pilot of this Hornet was good and used this too their advantage. The Hornet bobbed and weaved firing its primary weapons with enthusiasm and skill. The Scorpion was battered to the point that it could not function but if it wasn't going to win, then no one was. In one final stroke the Scorpion fired its main gun one last time and hit the edge of the left engine and sent the craft into an uncontrollable spin. The vehicle and its crew smashed into the tallest lighthouse and embedded itself in the side of the building. But the Scorpion would not live to see its victory, instead, the tank exploded before its driver and gunner could get out. That left only a squad of Rebel troops a few yards from the Reds' position, and Sarge was getting trigger happy.

"Attack!" Sarge yelled, getting up and firing his Shotgun from a relatively close distance to his targets.

"Take this bitch!" Carmen hollered leaping over her cover and clubbing a soldier across the face with the butt of her weapon.

Lopez fired the Gauss Hog's primary armament at a group of troops who had been looking to finish off the Hornet's crew. The small tungsten slug slashed its way through three Rebels so quickly it didn't even have blood on it as it hit the concrete. The two snipers in the second floor fired their weapons on the last soldiers they could see, two men went down from their well-timed shots and stayed down as the two continued to try and find targets. Sarge engaged in close combat with a pair of Rebels by the door to the auto shop and was quickly in over his head. He smashed the lead man with his shotgun but when he swung the weapon around with his right hand the second trooper ducked and tackled Sarge to the ground. But Sarge used his head, literally, he delivered a vicious head-butt that broke the man's nose and threw him off of him. Sarge grabbed his Shotgun and was in time to see the first trooper aiming his Assault Rifle at him. But he couldn't get his weapon on target before the other man. Thankfully for him, Lopez was, the man was sent flying by a point blank shot from the turret on the back of the Warthog. Sarge got up and saw a man get thrown over the hood of a car by a blast from a Shotgun, he looked up to see Carmen cock her weapon and nod over to him.

"Clear."

"Good work everyone, Donut, you and Kate check to see if there are any survivors from that Hornet. We'll check these bodies," Sarge ordered.

"Yes sir."

Sarge turned to his second in command as she walked up next to him.

"_That was fun."_

High Rise Hospital #3

0400 Hours

Group 3

"I need you to get me anything stronger than regular-grade clamps and morphine quick" instructed the woman as her current assistants set Doc down on the strongest table they could find.

"I'm on it" one rushed out to find her supplies while the other immedially started to shuffle around the room, gathering tools and dumping away unneeded clutter.

"Make sure he's still awake"

"Still here" Doc groaned.

"That's good Dufrasne. You'll need to stay awake for a bit for me, ok?" she patted the side of his helmet gently.

"Sure, I'll try" She nodded, and immedially was in her own survival mode.

"Help me take this helmet off"

"I can do that" Both doctor and assistant turned to find Jenny walk in, her own helmet off.

"Why?" the doctor sharply asked.

"Our helmets don't come off like a Marine's." Jenny explained, "You have to server the small oxygen line here" Jenny simply snapped open the oxygen ties, the hiss of air signaling their release.

"Thank you….?"

"Just call me Jenny" both nodded as the doctor pulled off Doc's helmet, ignoring the small bubble of interest in his face. She simply dusted off a loose strand of hair free from his shut eyes; the small tender moment snapped down as her other assistant ran in.

"Miss Anderson, will military grade work? That med-bay has some powerful supplies"

"That's a good thing, and yes. Now set them down, and make sure these clamps can pry off armor"

"Ma'am?" both said, sharing quizzical looks.

"The only way, I figure, to help him is to strip him out of his armor. Now get those clamps on those armor pieces now"

"Miss Courtney, I don't think-"

"Now Devan. And do not call me Courtney" she snapped at him. Both immedially got to work, clamping on clamps where his armor was secured, some small pieces popping off on contact.

"Dufrasne, are you still with me?" she whispered as she pulled on her closest set of clamps, the armor free from its hold moved immedially to a pile near the door and its sentry.

"A bit" Doc said weakly.

"Devan! Give me anything that keep him awake" she ordered, a syringe placed in her outstretched hand on command. She injected it quickly through his undersuit, and started to peel the undersuit down..

"He definitely has a broken arm, and his shoulder is badly dislocated. Boys, I want you popping that shoulder back in, while I set his broken arm. Let move it!" Courtney ordered loud.

"Wash…"

"Hmm?" Wash turned his attention back to Jenny as she moved her vision from inside the room they guarded.

"Just a question floating around my head"

"And what is it?"

"Doc and walls…why do they hate each other?"

"It's a….long story…"

"Oh"

"God dammit!" Both turned to look inside as Doc screamed.

"Suck it up Doc! It could be worse!

"You could be wor- Fuck!"

"You need to stop shouting Dufrasne!" Courtney ordered at him.

Jenny smiled as the doctor finally stopped setting his arm and began to wrap it. The other assistants had popped in his shoulder back into it socket and had started to help with the basic assignments they were sent to do.

"You know….she's actually pretty good"

"I guess so…" Wash mumbled, and turned to watch the rest of the floor scramble and work.

"Hey Dufrasne...you can relax now, just don't try to move anything"

"Thanks" Doc said to her, opening his eyes and met with her smile.

"I never got your name" She was taken by surprise at the question.

"Oh…I'm Courtney Anderson….thought you can just call me Courtney"

"Then you can just call me Doc, Courtney" Courtney smiled quickly and ushered the assistants out, giving them the quick order to help anyone else who needs it.

"Need anything Doc?" Courtney asked, lightly tapping his now bound arm.

"No, but I do have a question" he said lightly watching her oddly with intent.

"Ok"

"Why are you helping me?" She lifted her head and couldn't help her reaction. Doc watched as her lightened with a small blush.

"You may be UNSC and we may be Rebels…but…I swore to help anyone in need, no matter what flag or emblem they served under, and I wouldn't break it.

"That's actually a really good oath" Doc agreed, smiling as she smiled.

"Is he good Doctor?" Doc sighed under his breath as Jenny walked in, Wash silently following behind.

"He's fine. I don't exactly know how long it'll take for his arm to heal, but I know his other arm will be fine, maybe a bit sore."

"That's good news" Wash said.

"Does this mean I'm stuck with beign under your order now Wash?" Doc groaned.

"Yes, for the second time"

"I am not going to be your prisoner again. I don't want to start relating with you"

Jenny and Courtney stood and listened in amusement at their conversation.

"So you had that thing when prisoners start to relate with their captors?" asked Jenny.

"You have to ask…" Wash groaned, setting his head into his right hand.

"Yep….and I never thought I would"

"I actually want to listen to this. Things like this are linked to medical research" Courtney commented.

"Ok then!" Doc said.

"I'm out" Wash said, giving up already and trying to escape Doc's already cascading memory of the first wall incident.

New Solstice, Pacifica City, Harbor Lighthouse

4/25/2570

The cockpit of the Hornet finally tarted to crack as the driver pushed through it, trying to break free of its chocking hold. Stone fell and crashed as the glass shattered, a gauntleted hand reaching up to pull up and out of the cockpit. As the armored figure pulled herself out and onto the platform it had miraculously wedged itself on with a heavy thud, her armor slashed and covered in her blood.

"Damn Scorpion" she hissed in pain, her hand running across a patch of blood. The Hornet clanked hard, raising the woman's alarm as she turned to watch the hidden second cockpit seemingly explode open, the glass cover shattering and falling from the hole in the platform. She watched as her co-pilot's hand finally revealed itself.

The realization hit her soft and quick. She smirked and spoke low.

"Glad you made it" Her ears buzzed with static lightly as her partner answered.

"_You thought I wasn't going to?_"

**June F: *has her earbuds in***

**Vivian: *snaps her fingers* June, the chapters over…**

**June F: *oblivious***

**Big: *tugs left earbud out* June!**

**June F: WHAT!**

**Big: The chapters over!**

**June F: Oh….sorry I was listening to the Halo:ODST soundtrack…It's a good track**

**Vivian: *sighs…***

**Big: It is a good soundtrack**

**Vivian: I'll just get the Preview up…**

**Next Chapter Preview: Alaska turns and Hawaii unleashes his fury.**


	17. Chapter 17

**June F: 'Sup**

**Vivian: Classy as always June**

**June F: Shut your face!**

**Big: *opens door* Yo June, can we bring her in now?**

**June F: Yep! Hey Freelancers! Welcome in Maryland!**

***Enter in Agent Maryland***

**Maryland: Holy hell, its huuuuge in here!**

**June F; Your welcome!**

**Vivian: Hey guys…I have a question from this little kid**

**Big: My little brother…Do you think Rooster Teeth reads this?**

**June F: I would love to find out! I have a line to Kathleen on their website!**

**Maryland: It would be a big honor if they did read this!**

**Vivian: If they did, they should have left a review or something, or a message.**

**Big: That would be amazing!**

**June F: Here's your chapter bitches, enjoy~**

Chapter 17

Planet New Solstice, Pacifica City, ruins of Grey Interplanetary Tower

4/25/2570

0450 Hours

Team Three

The team that was composed of Tex, Church, Hawaii, Sister, Sergey, and now Alaska made their way through the ruined interior of the tower they found themselves having to navigate. All conversation had revolved around Alaska and Hawaii's reunion, and how Hawaii had defended his position of killing the Director for what he did to the two of them. Most of the other talking involved what they'd been doing over the past few years.

"Ok, I have to ask, when you guys first met as Freelancers, was that really you guys 'first' meet?" asked Church.

Alaska and Hawaii both exchanged glances and smiled.

"Nope" both said in unison.

"Really?"

"Believe it Church" Tex commented.

"Yep, we officially met in…Hawaii!" Alaska continued.

"Irony at its highest" Sister murmured.

"Indeed it is Sis" Hawaii whispered back, earning Sergey's quick heated stare.

"Ok, Tex, remember when a few of us were sent out for a 'shore leave'?" Alaska asked.

"Of course I do. You told me the story already" Alaska could hear the smile in her voice.

"Right….that I forgot" she shook off her dumb moment and continued to explain.

"During that shore leave, I was sent to Hawaii for a 'vacation' and everything went downhill when I landed, of course" she told Church.

Tex and Church shared a laugh, and Sister cracked a smile and sighed next to Hawaii.

"Until Mr. 'I'll help random strangers' here let me stay at his place for the week I was there"

"Anything good happen?" Sister asked suggestively, elbowing Hawaii in the side.

"What?" Alaska turned to Sister in shock and a bit in embarrassment. Hawaii just elbowed Sister back and whispered.

"Almost"

Tex heard the silent answer and let out a single laugh as Sister giggled at Hawaii. Alaska thanked everything she could that she wore her helmet, because she was blushing enough to get anyone laughing.

"You know Alaska, if you lower your head enough, we will never suspect that you're blushing" Sergey brought up, causing the already flustered agent to yank her helmet off and angrily whisper at Sergey.

"You shut the fuck up!"

Everyone snickered at Alaska's rather bright red face, Sister losing control for a second and letting her laughter slip. Hawaii looked Sergey hard in the visor, the blue flinching only once but stood strong.

"Don't even start with that bullshit boys!" warned Tex, who already knew what was starting to boil over. Alaska joined Tex, watching as the men slowly returned their gaze forward, the tension between them slowly lowering.

"I still don't know what happened to you after I left Alaska" Hawaii finally said, breaking the tense air around them.

"Yeah, Mrs. 'Let's throw knives at every living thing', enlighten us" Church put out there, earning Tex slapping him upside the head.

"Fine asshole, but it's the basic summary only"

"Fair" Alaska smiled.

"The next two years was mostly missions and training, then I was sent out to be a mole on a Insurrectionist-controlled planet"

"After that?" Hawaii asked.

"That mission went well, even though it took me almost two years in itself to finish; the planet was liberated back to the hands of the UNSC"

"The UNSC? I thought we were competing against them?" Tex asked, for once completely in the dark.

"Indeed, but I did a small favor under the table for some information"

"What info?" asked Sister.

"Something on Hawaii's disappearance" Hawaii turned to Alaska as she let her blush rise once more.

"That's actually real sweet Alaska" Sister commented.

"Though it was a dead end. It was only plot coordinates for a Reactor plant that wasn't even there when I got there. Just a crater"

Hawaii stifled a cough, trying to take hold of the sudden surge of emotion and information.

"You ok there Hawaii?" Church asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine man" Hawaii coolly responded.

"By the time I was done with my dead end search, the Director was behind bars, and the network was in chaos, so I…helped them keep everything going"

"Something's off…..what happened after that? We know he escaped but how?" Sergey interjected, pointing an index finger at her from behind Hawaii.

Alaska placed her helmet back on, masking her emotions from the group.

"Me, two other freelancers and a faction of his army broke him out." She replied meekly.

"What the fuck?! Are you fucking joking?" Sergey shouted.

"Back off man, she didn't know it was going to explode like this!" Hawaii harshly whispered back.

"That can't be fucking true!" Sister immedially scooted closer to Church, fear overcoming her senses as the men began to unravel.

"I didn't know, ok?"

"She caused this crap!" Sergey fought back.

"She didn't know!" Hawaii's anger was starting boil over, all their voices rising above a point where they would be detected, until…

"Guys!" Tex briskly whispered. Sergey turned to growl at Tex, ignoring all reason as the fight continued.

"Shh…"Tex ordered, "listen."

The team stopped talking at once and listened carefully, below them the heard the sound of people talking in the large lobby beneath them. Sergey stepped forward and put his hands to his lips as a sign that he'd take a look. He attached his Battle Rifle to his back and crept forward toward a shining hole in the floor that allowed light to pass up into the office that the team found themselves in. He crawled on all fours toward the hole that was only a crack in the floor's foundation two or three inches wide that had snapped but was still held together by rebar. Sergey carefully eased his body to the ground and poked his visor over so that he could see, but he wasn't able to see much, a tangle of pipe and cords blocked his vision mostly but he was able to pick out several of the enemy below. He saw a plethora of colors belonging to obviously Agents. He could count at least five of them, sitting around and heating up their night's rations while enjoying the plush couches and Sergey couldn't smell it but he barely caught a glimpse of a running coffee machine.

"What do you see?" Church asked.

"Looks like a bunch of Freelancers, about five or six, I can't see very well. They're eating their dinner it looks like…"

"They're eating what?" Sister exclaimed, "Let me see!"

"Sister no!" Sergey yelled, seeing her walk across the unstable floor toward him.

It was too late, when she walked toward him the floor began to creak and crack, the added weight was too much, and she realized her mistake, but it was simply too late. In a swift snap, the floor caved in, and the entire team fell to the bottom floor and right on top of the Freelancers. Texas, Alaska, and Hawaii gained their composure first, just in time to see the five Freelancers get up, ready to fight.

"Who the Hell are you?!" the lead Freelancer bellowed.

"You don't remember me baby? Aw, I'm hurt," Hawaii joked, pretending to lower his guard.

"Hawaii?" one of the other Freelancers asked, puzzled by this new development.

"In the flesh, now, if you dudes won't mind, drop your weapons."

"You're one of them! After everything the Director did for you you're turning on him. Alaska, you too? And Texas…well I shouldn't be surprised," the leader of the group, Colorado, in his Black and Gold armor stepped forward enraged by the prospect of the two Freelancers turning on their idol.

"He sent Hawaii away because Hawaii wasn't a killer!" Alaska defended her love.

"Not a killer?! Haha, he's nothing but a killer! He has the ability to kill us all!" Colorado roared.

"Shut up Colorado!" Hawaii yelled, feeling himself getting angry.

"That's all you are and that's all you'll ever be!" Colorado, who had by now walked up to Hawaii, face to chest, taunted.

"No, I'm not!" Hawaii snapped.

In a flash he lashed out at Colorado and kicked him square in the chest. But Colorado was expecting this and had his arms across his chest to blunt the blow. Hawaii charged at him and tore into him with all he could muster while the other Freelancers charged at the rest of the team. Two Freelancers took Tex and Alaska head on, lashing out with their best attacks, meeting expert defenses and counter-attacks. But the two women had a fight on their hands, they had paired up with Missouri and Iowa, the two most senior hand to hand experts in the program. They knew what to do, because everything that Alaska knew and were programmed with, respectively, was passed down from their two combined lessons and experiences. They dueled fiercely, wildly exchanging partners so their opponents could not gain an accurate picture of what exactly they were fighting so that they could figure out the weaknesses of their techniques. But the other two Freelancers, Oklahoma and Rhode Island, had set their sights on the three Simulation Troopers. Sister, Sergey, and Church went running backwards into a collapsed hall with the cocky Freelancers chasing their so-called amateur prey.

"Sister, take cover with Church in this room, I'll see if I can lure one of them my way," Sergey ordered, firing a burst from his BR to pin the Freelancers down from around the corner.

"No, I'm going with you!" She protested.

"I'll be fine, please, stay with Church, everything's gonna be fine, I promise."

"Here they come, go. We'll get these fuckers!" Church said to Sergey, signaling him to make his move.

"Hey assholes! Come and get me!" Sergey yelled, firing his BR and taking off down a hall that branched off into a cafeteria wrecked and open to the weather with rain and wind blowing in.

The Freelancers charged after him, one of them held his partner's arm back when they reached the entrance. He performed a hand signal that apparently meant something to the two and Rhode Island nodded and split off to look for Church and Sister. Oklahoma reloaded his Assault Rifle and marched into the ruined cafeteria. Rain pattered down on the far wall where part of the massive Thracian Contractors Tower had carved a gash and then smashed through the street and into the subway system. Wind sent the wet debris hurling into the room and the lack of light cast ghostly shadows that the Blue used well.

"Good choice Blue, nice place for an ambush, but ambushed never work on someone with a motion tracker."

On cue, the Freelancer turned and ducked away from a burst of rifle fire and rolled to the right to avoid the bursts emanating from the darkness that was only broken by the flares of Sergey's rifle when he pulled the trigger from behind a counter in the back of the room. Oklahoma raised his rifle in one hand and fired a few shots that forced Sergey to duck and he hopped over his cover and slid in behind the counter just opposite Sergey.

"But you forgot I have a tracker too bitch!" Sergey taunted, tossing a grenade right into Oklahoma's lap.

Oklahoma saw this, and jumped right over the counter and into Sergey as he tried to move back and into the adjoining kitchen. Oklahoma tackled him right into the kitchen where Sergey felt his Rifle get kicked away as the two separated for an instant. The weapon careened away and fired off the burst Sergey had intended for the Freelancer. But, that same burst hit the gas line that fed the kitchen stoves, and the flammable gas began leaking slowly into the air as the two continued their deadly duel. Oklahoma fought to bring his Rifle to bear, but Sergey got as close as he could to prevent him from getting a shot. Sergey brought both arms up, spinning as he did it and pulled on Oklahoma's gun arm, yanking the Freelancer over him and flat onto the ground. The rifle was knocked away and under a steel table stuffed with pans and trays. Sergey fired off a punch into the dark green armored man that was blocked and countered with another elbow that knocked him back into the sink. Oklahoma was up in a second with his knife in hand and brought it down with the intent on putting it through Sergey's Mk. VI helmet. But Sergey rolled on the ground, away from the strike and grabbed a loose pan and brought it up in time to block the hammer blow of Oklahoma's fist denting the steel and sending waves of pain through the Freelancer's hand.

"Son of a…" was all Oklahoma could get out before Sergey slapped him across the visor with the pan.

Oklahoma spun around and was hit again with the dented pan in the gut and slightly hunched over by the sink. Sergey smashed his helmet with another blow but Oklahoma turned the tables and landed a fierce elbow into his head and knocked him back into the walkway. With a quick slash the Freelancer sliced across the Blue's chest piece, gouging into the armor but not compromising it. Then Oklahoma kicked at the Blue with a brutal round house that knocked Sergey into a table and then collapsed onto the ground. Sergey rolled to avoid another hit but then he saw something that half panicked him. He saw the wavy lines and shattered pipe that normally housed gas. Sergey felt the Freelancer bringing down another hit with his knife, this one aimed for his neck. He yanked his arms up and crossed them to absorb the blow and stopped it short of his vulnerable navel.

With one last kick Sergey launched the Freelancer up and over him and scrambled to get up and run out of the time bomb of a kitchen. Oklahoma saw the retreating Blue and went to grab his pistol, in his rush he stood up and aimed his pistol, and fired. A massive explosion engulfed him as he detonated the gas that had leaked. He was killed from the asphyxiation of the air being burned that made his lungs implode violently and then there was the burning of the gas itself that burnt his armor to a crisp and then the tons of shrapnel that went flying tore into the fire weakened armor. He was very much dead. Sergey jumped over the counter as the explosion went off, catch a steak knife in his side, and a fork and a few pieces of steel buried into his left leg.

"Fuck! Grrr…" Sergey groaned feeling the knife, fork and shrapnel lodging themselves into his armor and body. He grabbed ahold of the wood handle of the knife and yanked it out, an inch of blood was on it, nothing serious but very painful. The fork came out easily, it had barely penetrated his skin thanks to the toughness of his armor's under-layer.

As he pulled out the rest of the shrapnel he snapped back to reality.

"Sister!"

He charged down the hall towards the sound of gunfire. He rounded a corner where he saw the yellow and cobalt armored Blues shooting it out with a grey and red Freelancer, Rhode Island. Rhode had his Shotgun out, firing with deadly intent, taking chunks out of the wall that Sergey's team mate and girlfriend took cover behind. When Sergey saw Sister lurch back as a grouping of pellets struck her in the shoulder he charged at him with every bit of strength he could muster. Sergey plowed into the Freelancer from behind and tackled him to the ground, knocking his Shotgun away easily. The Freelancer fought hard and Sergey returned the fighting intensity, both men trying to gain the upper hand.

"Sergey, hold him there, I'm gonna try something real quick," Church hollered running up to the two of them.

Church kneeled down next to the two struggling men and then his body froze and a white ghostly hologram appeared for a split second and then seemed to enter the Freelancer's armor and body. The Freelancer screamed and ceased all resistance with Sergey who eased himself off of the limp Freelancer as he waited for something else to happen.

"What's he doing?" Sergey asked. They waited as Church did what he did best, fuck with people's heads.

"Wow, this dudes heads fucked up!" Church simply stated as he entered Rhode Island's head, finding the place's location to be some kind of dark forest, like the ones in horror films.

"I wonder if I could break a tree and make something happen…" Church pondered the thought as he laid a hand against the cold bark of one, the air right next to him shivering as the wheels of data and lists of codes appeared.

"Nope….I don't need his eyes, those are pointed to the ceiling…" he removed his hand and moved to the next tree, bringing up the next set of codes, data and files.

"Wow….that's a lot of woman….if Tucker could see this shit…" Church blinked twice before he started to whistle low, making a copy of the list and storing it away for himself, to show Tucker later.

"Aha! Armor systems….now where's lockdown…" he continued through the long list, passing his HUD view and finding the key he needed!

"Sweet!" he simply expanded the code box of information, flicking it upward to confirm lockdown and stepped back. He tapped his left open window, watching as his HUD flashed the lockdown warning and his systems freezing up.

"One thing down! Now while I'm here.,.." he let the information rest back as he stepped away.

"Let's find out where the Director is…" he moved along the now illuminated ground, watching as flashes of memory and data flew by.

"Hey dip thong!" Church turned to find a single armored male behind him, helmet lights on and shining.

"Who are you, you dumbass crack head?" Church groaned; it was this agent's view of him. Almost identical to Caboose's vision, the Rhode Island-Church was wearing his cobalt armor, but his language was crass and rude, but to a lesser extent.

"No one you should care about" Church replied. Rhode Island-Church looked at him and turned back around, heading into the darker parts of Rhode Island's mind.

"Alright then, crap-flinging doochebag; just don't break random crap!"

"That was so random…and so much like Caboose's shitpile of a mind" Church continued forward through the trees before him, and finally entered the lightest part of it, trees here colored in light brown and bathed in almost heavenly light.

"It's almost too bright. Now let's find where Mr. Psycho is…."

As Church played Chopsticks inside Rhode's mind, Sergey was quick to work, helping Sister patch up her shoulder wound courtesy of a couple of shotgun pellets. The armor around it lay on the ground, her undersuit peeled as far down as possible to reveal the pellet's damage.

"That hurts!" Sister hissed as Sergey carefully pulled a single pellet out of her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Sister, but I need to get these out" Sister blinked away her sudden tears and smiled sweetly.

"Thanks Sergey…"

"For what?"

"For being here for me" Sergey tried his best to ignore his rising blush as he tugged another pellet out.

"Two down, two to go Sister" he informed her, squeezing her wrist lightly quickly before continuing on.

Outside in the pouring rain, another, far more fierce battle was being waged by the Freelancers and former Freelancers. Hawaii, in particular was causing devastating damage to the already wrecked city street as he fought to the death with Colorado. Tex and Iowa fought hard, with Tex quickly gaining the upper hand and chasing Iowa around the sidewalk, beating the stubborn man viciously but ended up being stonewalled as they continued. Alaska and Missouri had already drawn blood, they had drawn knives, and were gunning for the kill.

Hawaii slammed a mammoth blow into a car he had thrown Colorado into but he ended up putting his fist through the glass as Colorado dodged again. Hawaii grabbed the car from the inside and spun with the vehicle at his side and swung it like a bat, right into Colorado who'd taken his chances by going on the attack. He and the car went flying through the air and landed against the lobby of the building and went right into it, with Hawaii trudging along outside, waiting for Colorado to pull himself out.

Alaska and Missouri continued their struggle, slicing and slashing with their knives at a blinding pace. The slightest mistake by either of them would seal their fate. Alaska blocked the latest right upper-cut from Missouri and as Missouri spun, with one more jump attack she dodged backwards, avoiding the blow easily and drew a pair of her throwing knives and threw them each at a deadly speed. Missouri blocked the first with his knife and slapped the second away with his armored gauntlet.

"You'll have to do better than that Alaska!" the man taunted.

"Whoa!" a cry was heard as Iowa came flying through the air and crashed into Missouri and sent the two men backwards and into the last of the lobby's glass doors. All three rogue Freelancers stood ready to finish what they'd started and deal the death blow to these Freelancers.

"Hands up! Drop your weapons assholes!" a loud speaker called out from behind them as they readied themselves.

Dozens of Freelancer troopers emerged from the rain and mist and shined powerful spotlights at them from their Warthogs and a Scorpion. The three of them were surrounded by these new arrivals and knew it.

"I said drop 'em!" the speaker yelled out again.

"There's too many, not a chance," Texas said.

"Agreed," Alaska whispered, lowering her knives.

"We had a good run dudes."

Right on cue, the three Blues came right out of the hallway with Church in the lead. Immediately a squad of Freelancer troops surrounded them.

"Hey guys I know where the…Director…is. Aw come on, what the fuck?!"

Commercial District, Downtown Mall

0530 Hours

Team Five

"Rachel, come on, this way" Caboose instructed, grabbing Rachel firmly by the hand as he led his girl through another looted store. Rachel was immensely glad he had as both crouched down behind stuffed clothes racks, a single squad of Freelancer footmen passing by.

"Come on!" Caboose urged her on once more, grabbing hold of the same hand as he maneuvered through shattered wall and glass. As he continued around a left corner, she felt his fingers curl tighter around her hand, raising her blush behind her visor once more. She knew she had to keep it together to survive, but she had to admit…

…this whole hand-holding in battle thing was actually really sweet, however her quick-coming smile quickly curled into a frown as the heavy thump of boots echoed in the space behind them. They were growing louder and faster, signaling Rachel's quick reflex to duck and cover. She curled her somewhat trapped fingers and her other hand around Caboose's wrist and threw them both to the left, tossing them both into the shattered remains of a department store's closed doors, the mannequins they slid behind covering them as the Freelancer soldiers came pounding in.

"What the hell!? I swear to fucking hell there were Blues here!" shouted one soldier near the front of the four squads of men.

"Well, all I see is fucking girly clothes and glass dipshit!" shouted another man.

"Fuck you, I saw what I saw!"

"Shut your traps!" a larger soldier stepped in front of the large gaggle of men, his shotgun laying primed on his back.

"There's nothing here, split up with your squads and keep searching. This area's already been swept" the men grumbled in annoyance for a rebuttal.

"Move it!" the groups split once more and moved back where they emerged from, leaving the hidden Blue couple to finally maneuver out of their hiding spot. Rachel hesitantly sat up, sitting on her knees as she looked around, finally taking in her surroundings. She held back her gasp as she did.

They had hidden in the one place Rachel never expected, and Caboose could never believe.

They had fled and hid in a Victoria Secret store. Rachel sat frozen, unbelieving that she had thrown them both into the most embarrassing store in the mall. Caboose though was almost ecstatic; being able to look at all the lacey things he had heard and looked at with McMuffin. He had remembered that he had always said find something that matched a girl's personality, and the meaning of it clicked for him as he scanned the multiple racks.

Caboose smiled as he removed himself from the floor, and headed farther inside the store, his sights set for a outfit he had seen with McMuffin.

"Hey Rachel!" he called out. Rachel finally moved from her frozen state, quickly finding him the dimly lit store.

"Look at this! I think I'll get it for you!" Rachel's face right then flushed bright red as Caboose lifted up the most embarrassing set of lingerie she had seen.

In Caboose's outstretched hands was a simple Navy Blue bra, and matching navy blue panties, both rimmed in alternating black and white patterns and lace.

As Rachel shakily stood up, Caboose took off his helmet and set it down next to the pieces he had chosen.

"So…w-what do think?" Caboose asked nervously, placing his hands together in front of him. Rachel took off her helmet as well, looking between the outfit and Caboose.

"If I may, Private Rachel, but I think it would look great on you" FILLIS commented through Caboose's external speakers, the smile in the AI's voice easily heard.

Rachel nodded at FILLIS's comment, and looked at Caboose once again.

"Even if you don't…I still want you to try it.." Caboose said low. Rachel blinked away sudden tears as Caboose opened his hidden storage compartment on the left side of his chest piece, and pulled out the treasure that was held in it.

Caboose started to pull out his beloved crayons, color by color, and setting them down, until the last white crayon was on the display table in front of him. Rachel couldn't believe he had let his crayons go for a simple outfit for her. Before he closed the compartment, now occupied with the articles of clothing, she told hold of his wrist, and nodded.

"I believe she wants you to keep your crayons, Private Caboose, and so that she can carry the outfit"

"So you like it?"

Rachel nodded happily, blatantly ignoring her small tears as Caboose handed her the outfit, and she handed him his crayons. They both store their respected items away and continue onward, passing through the clothing department without delay and passing the food court, with some resistance.

"But I'm hungry!" Caboose whined as Rachel pulled him past the deserted food court, abandoned trays covered in food left behind. He reluctantly continued with Rachel, until they passed the one store she could never keep him away from.

"Candy! Candy candy candy.." Caboose chanted as the colorful shop came into his view. He raced past Rachel and barreled through its opened doors, hands out in front and ready to grab at the delicious sweets. As Rachel raced to meet up with him, Caboose smashed his hand through one of the stores numerous glass candy holders, grabbing a handful of what looked like Mike and Ikes. As if by fate, the familiar sounds of boots pounded around Rachel, and she was forced to take action.

As she ran up to the shattered doors, her eyes caught sight of the hole in the store, blowing rain, bits of metal, and leaves inside the store. From what she could see, outside of the mall was a park, the glint of metal catching off of the store counters. They had their way out, and the soldiers were gaining on them. She in a rush of panic grabbed Caboose hard in one bicep and tugged him hard out of the candy shop, landing in the mud of the park.

Caboose was already getting up, wiping the largest patches of mud stuck to his armor, and the candy that had not been secured in his armor.

"Rachel, wait! I almost had enou-"

Rachel grabbed Caboose roughly by his right arm, cutting off his sentence, and yanked him down to the ground behind a large hedge. Caboose was confused by this sudden move by Rachel but then FILSS spoke up.

"Warning, target area in sight, proceed with caution."

"Oh, he's in there?"

"Affirmative," FILLS answered.

"So we need to go up there," Caboose continued.

Rachel nodded her head, peaking through the leaves as she examined the way forward. There were at least fifty or sixty troopers out in front of the giant tower that had its lights still on thanks to its independent generators installed in it prior to the attack. Between the two Blues and their objective was a large open field with the occasional tree in the middle for at least a hundred yards until they would have to make their way through a large forest with a great many jungle gyms and swing sets built in amongst the trees. Rachel thought hard how they'd be able to infiltrate the building without being found out and killed or captured. She shook with the memory of what had happened the last time she'd been captured.

"Rachel, come on," Caboose said running toward the building.

Rachel would have screamed if she had the ability, instead, she ran as fast as she could and tackled Caboose into a crater from an explosion that was half filled with muddy water. She broke the surface and dragged Caboose out with her and back into the mall's own creek that was swollen with rain water and pulled Caboose out of sight.

"Rachel? What was that for?" Caboose sniffled.

Rachel turned him around and did what she should have done in the first place, she yanked the chip containing FILSS out of the slot in Caboose's helmet and plugged it into her own. Using FILSS she ordered her to speak for her.

"Rachel says that we'll need help Private Caboose," FILSS said to Caboose.

"Oh, I don't get it."

**June F: *slumps back into chair* Done! Yay!**

**Vivian: *pops up* I'll quickly proofread! *disappears***

**Big: *calls from living room* June! Come on, commercial time!**

**June F: On it!**

***now in Writing Room living room***

**Big: You got it done?**

**June F: Yep!**

**Big: Sweet, oh and by the way..**

**June F: *sits next to Big* Hmm?**

**Big: Any shoutouts for Rooster Teeth?**

**June F: Mines of Kathleen! Besides from being the voice actress for my favorite Freelancer, shes made a big impact on Season 10!**

**Big: Michael, keep enraging yourself, everyone loves you. And Matt and Burnie and the guys, sorry that you're Longhorns, but you're still the best on the Earth at pissing off Michael, messing with interns, and entertaining people with your awesome style. Go Red! **

**June F: Shh…The Olympics are back on! GO USA!**

**Next Chapter Preview: The team moves in, and Agent Maryland and her partner face off against the Reds.**


	18. Chapter 18

BIG Z: *Blowing the dust off the keyboard* Man, it's been too long hasn't it? Hello? Where's June?

Tex: Haven't seen her, last time she was here she said that she had school stuff to do.

BIG Z: I know how that feels.

Vivian: Everyone's been getting pissed off at us lately, let's just let them read already.

Chapter 18

Planet New Solstice, Pacifica City, Commercial District

4/25/2570

0530 Hours

Team One

"What the Hell?" Lisa mumbled, seeing the glowing of man-made light from around the corner.

"What is it?" her sister asked, leaning against the wall of the building they were both inside.

"Light, look."

The two Reds crept forward so they could get a better look at what exactly they were looking at. The two had been designated as the team's scouts and had been wandering through the numerous stores and restaurants for several hours, making sure the coast was clear. The rest of the team was resting inside a sports bar a hundred yards back, waiting and hoping that they could rest a bit longer.

"Is that?" Lisa asked, creeping toward the corner where she could see the source.

"What are you doing?!" Liz half-yelled at her when she walked around the corner.

Lisa walked around the damaged wall and peaked at the massive tower before them that was currently glowing in the storm. They could see numerous vehicles patrolling around the perimeter of the lot that it stood proudly on and they could see troopers and a pair of agents on the ground out front under the cover of mobile cover emplacements, sandbags, and rigid tents they'd erected in the hours before the storm. Barbed wire surrounded the main perimeter and lights shined and scanned the roads adjacent to the Freelancer HQ.

"I'd say that's where the big boss man is," Lisa said, observing the building from afar.

"Oh you think?" Liz snapped back.

"Don't have to be a total bitch about it."

"Oh shutup and come on, we gotta get back to the others," Liz growled yanking her twin along with her so they could get on back to the others in their team.

"We're not getting inside that thing, it's a death trap!" Lisa started as they returned to their comrades.

"Not without help at least."

The two continued their debate as they retraced their steps to return their team mates and unofficial 'boyfriends.' They hadn't really shared it with each other but they'd really grown close to their Orange and Maroon counter-parts. In fact they seemed to be matches made in heaven, they brought the best out of each other, and relished in each other's company, a far cry to their solitude from men at their last base. They hadn't really counted Hawaii because he'd always go on and on about his soul mate he'd paired up with and so they'd realized he was effectively off limits. Sergey was, well, a Blue, so he was off limits from the beginning and the Blue girls had killed the only other man in the immediate vicinity for trying to hit on them. The Red girls pretty much agreed with that, the guy was a creep. But the duo realized something after a while, they were very much lost.

"They should be right around this corner here…" Liz said, walking into another dead end alley, then froze board-stiff as she ran into something that would make any infantryman cringe in terror.

"Hey what are you…TANK!"

Meanwhile the others were simply chilling out and relaxing inside the very much intact sports bar that had been very accommodating to them for the past hour. Mostly they slept, not really having much in the way of sleep for the past twelve hours. But the only two Blues present were awake, standing watch, and talking to try and stave off the exhaustion.

"Tired?" Lea asked, leaning on the back of her chair that she sat comfortably in.

"A little bit," Tucker replied, leaning back on his perch on a bar stool next to the bar.

"Have you thought about what we're gonna do after this?" Lea inquired looking out at the rain splattering on the window.

"I have about five different things we can do..."

"No, I mean how are gonna get out of here!"

Tucker just shrugged his shoulders, he too was concerned, but his pride wouldn't let him show it.

"Hey remember when Sergey said that you guys had no CO anymore, what happened with that guy? You kill him?" Tucker responded, trying to steer conversation away from something depressing.

"Alright fine, the guy was a creep who hit on every one of us! Including one of the Reds!" Lea started.

"He couldn't have been all that bad," Tucker put in.

"Oh it got worse," Lea said holding her hand up to stop him, "he went one step too far one day, he tried to have his way with a Red we caught the day before. And boy did the Reds get pissed off."

"So what'd you guys do?" Tucker said, now very interested.

"Well we..."

_CRASH!_

In one instant the rumbling was over-powered by the image of a pair of large Scorpion tanks smashing their way through the walls with their lights glowing and shining the surprised troopers who scrambled and ran after being awoken so rudely. Grif and Simmons were cut off from the Blues and Junior by one tank staring right at them as parts of the ceiling fell on it and crumbled as they shattered on the Titanium hull. Dust clung to the tanks giving them a real ghostly and menacing appearance and covered all markings. But they didn't care whose tanks they were, they had a pair of 95 mm cannons staring them in the face!

As the dust settled the Reds and Blues and Elite held their hands up in surrender and shock, watching the tanks, swivel their guns left and right menacingly, as I deciding to fuck with their heads before finishing the job. But a hearty, and surprising, laugh came off of the tank on the right.

"Hahaha, you blokes should've seen the looks on your faces! Priceless! Oi, darlings we're here," Monty called out.

"Monty?!" Lea called, lowering her guard.

"Yeah good to see you too Blue," Monty retorted, albeit less enthusiastically.

"Hello Private Tucker," Sheila said pleasantly.

"Sheila, you're okay!"

"And so are we, thanks for asking," the voice of Liz called out as the two Red girls walked into the ruined bar area.

"No one cares Red," Lea yelled back.

"Fuck you guys," Lisa responded, turning to Grif and Simmons who had gotten up and gotten themselves together, "Have a nice nap babe?"

"No thanks to these damn tanks scaring the living shit out of us, yeah," Simmons replied.

"I'm right here you know mate."

"Well, these 'damn tanks' are the only things that have the firepower to get us into the tower where the Director is in," Liz said, leaning on Monty.

"You found him?!" Tucker yelled.

"Mhmm," Liz responded smugly.

"Well let's go get him…"

"Warning movement detected," Sheila spoke up, turning her turret toward the source of the movement.

"Blarg!"

"Get down!"

The team ducked down behind the walls and windows waiting in ambush for the group or individual that Sheila had detected headed towards them. It was absolutely pitch black outside but lightning illuminated the streets occasionally. They aimed their weapons, panning right and left, until they saw the unmistakable red dots yellow dots of an unknown movement source headed their way. They felt confident now that they had their heavy armored vehicles in the form of Sheila and Monty and they had the element of surprise.

"I have a visual," Lea whispered, holding her rifle a bit tighter.

Indeed she did, silhouetted against the lighter colors of buildings were two figures in armor, carrying an Assault Rifle and a Shotgun. They moved quickly and with a purpose, careful not to be seen by sticking to the walls. The one with the Shotgun was obviously the leader, because the Assault Rifle one was following the other one around like a well-trained puppy. They moved perpendicular to the team's position, just a few yards away. When the duo came to the T in the intersection where the store was situated they made a mad dash for the side they were on. The team made their move, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. They jumped out of cover and clicked on their helmet lights as the tanks shined their headlights at the two soldiers coming right at them.

What they saw made the Blues and Reds both cringe and jump for joy, standing before them, partially blinded was Rachel and Caboose. Lea was the first to step up and walk outside to meet her long time squad mate. Tucker grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"You know, we could take this opportunity to kill Caboose."

"Oh you don't mean that, come on!"

Lea ran out the doors and lowered her weapon so that Caboose and Rachel didn't shoot her. But Tucker knew Caboose might shoot her anyway. Rachel recognized the figure and armor color of her team mate immediately and drew a smile on her visor as a sign to say "I'm glad to see you." Lea returned the gesture with a warm response on her speakers.

"Good to see you too."

"Tucker!" Caboose yelled, "And the Reds, you found them."

"Hey Caboose," the more knowledgeable members of the team groaned.

"Sheila, you're okay!" Caboose yelled rushing through the doors and into the bar where his long-time friend stood idling.

"Hello Private Caboose, it's good to see you again."

Rachel immediately began noticing absent members of their team and of the Reds' teams. She asked FILSS to ask for her so she didn't have to lower her guard.

"Rachel is wondering where everyone else is, she does not see Jenny, Sergey, or the other Reds and Freelancers," the voice in her head asked on her speakers.

"We haven't seen them since the crash," Grif responded clipping his rifle to his back.

"My sensors have been unable to triangulate their position due to the intensity of the storm. I believe that there might be a high ionization at ground level due to the storm," Sheila piped up with Caboose sitting on the top of the driver's canopy.

"Or we were damaged in the crash love," Monty pointed out.

"That's the most likely explanation Simmies," a loud voice rang out.

"Oh shit."

The group looked up to see a pair of men in tan and brown armor standing right above them looking down with their weapons aimed. A pair of BR's stared Tucker and Liz in the face and dripped tiny drops from the Freelancers' recent outdoor trek, following the two tanks for several hours. But they didn't realize that the tanks were right beneath them and ready to put a dent in their claim to fame as the killers of a whole Red and Blue Squad, although that accomplishment wasn't something to brag about among the top Freelancers, unless they were talking about the insane, but experienced, Battle Creek Reds and Blues, who never die.

Monty raked the upper floor with his turret and cannon barrel, collapsing the floor and ceiling and sending the two Freelancers crashing to ground level. The Reds and Blues regained their ready stances that had been drilled into them and Junior lit up his duel swords and stood ready.

"Now, surrender before my alien son here opens a can of alien whoop-ass on you," Tucker threatened, watching the two Freelancers hold their weapons, back-to-back, and surrounded by the Reds and Blues.

"Blarg honk!"

Instead the Freelancer in brown armor threw down a canister in a blinding quick movement and popped a lot smoke into the medium sized restaurant. White fog spread out very quickly and soon no one could see anything, and the situation turned very sticky. The Freelancers quickly turned on the Reds and Blues, Nevada in the brown and green took on the Blues while Kansas in tan and black, took on the Reds who gathered around, bunching up for safety. The Blues huddled around the glowing of Junior's swords and went back-to-back, ready for a fight. The two Freelancers were surprised by this move into bunches for protection, it seemed too good a move for the Reds and Blues to do.

"Watch out, they'll try and cut us off from each other," Simmons said nervously, panning his weapon back and forth.

"No shit Sherlock."

In one instant the Blues were together the next they felt a heavy weight come crashing on top of them as Nevada made his first move. He smashed into Tucker from behind and kicked at Caboose who was sent head first into Rachel who fired off a blast of her shotgun into the ceiling. Lea turned in time to block a punch from Nevada and tried to fight back with her own rifle but a well-placed kick sent her careening toward Tucker as he was getting back up. Several of her shots managed to illuminate the Freelancer for a split second and Sheila saw him and fired a burst from her coaxial machine gun sending the agent scurrying for cover with Junior hot on his heels. Junior was later dumbfounded to see that the Freelancer had disappeared on him as he chased him into the fog. But the Freelancer opened fire on Junior, forcing Junior to duck behind the bar where Caboose and Rachel were getting up from behind to fire on the Freelancer. The man jumped straight up, disappearing once again.

The Reds too had a tough go at staying alive against their own opponent. Grif and Simmons each saw the man's shadow and fired immediately, only to be stymied by a projected hologram, and they each felt their back-up, Liz and Lisa get slammed from the left by the Freelancer who drove the two girls out of the building and onto the street, effectively splitting the Reds. Grif and Simmons each looked at one another and each thought the same thing.

"We're gonna die."

But they had a guardian angel watching over them in the form of a tank with no sense of distance or collateral damage. One minute there's a pair of shadows racing towards the two Reds and they are firing at both unsuccessfully, the next a loud and devastating concussion blasts away the fog, and a 90 millimeter shell rips through the store, slamming into the adjacent building. But the round also went right through one of the holograms, and the stunned Freelancer was stuck out in the middle of the floor with a tank and two Reds staring at him.

"Well blokes guess which Freelancer I'm shooting next?" Monty taunted aiming right at the visor of Agent Kansas.

"Oh fuck…" he groaned seeing the shell get rammed home in the chamber of Monty's cannon.

He leaped over to the side where Monty tracked him and was about to fire when he noticed Grif and Simmons in the line of fire. So he did the next best thing, he switched to his machine gun, and fired away.

"Shit run!" Grif yelled scurrying away from the Freelancer who had the intention of using him and Simmons as human shields. But Monty didn't give a shit.

"Run! Run! Run!" Simmons yelled in panic, diving over through the window with the Freelancer right behind him.

"Make room!" Kansas yelled diving behind the cover of the concrete next to Simmons.

"Wait a minute…oh fuck!" Simmons yelled seeing his cover buddy was a man who'd not moments before had been trying to kill him.

"Oh shit!" the Freelancer yelled seeing another pair of Reds come tearing after him, but not noticing the fact a Red was right next to him and a tank was trying to have him for dinner.

"Get him!"

_BANG!_

The Reds crashed into the Freelancer with a vengeance quickly beating him to a pulp with the butts of their rifles fueled by their own fury. Simmons couldn't help but be knocked aside by the girls as they continued to beat the man unconscious. But he also noticed that the Blues were having a bit more trouble, Nevada was fighting them hand to hand. Tucker, Lea, Junior, Caboose, Rachel were easily out matched by the Freelancer they currently dueled. He dodged and countered every move the Blues made with expert precision and was only truly challenged by the more competent Junior who launched himself at Nevada ferociously and managed to cut the Freelancer's rifle in half with one slice. The man stumbled back and felt himself caught in Caboose's vice grip and then felt himself thrown into the air and through a window into the opposite building where he crashed with a heavy and thud and collapsed onto the ground. Rachel surged forward with her Shotgun brought to bear and fired at him from long range. Pellets ricocheted off his armor and embedded themselves into his exposed black under suit. Soon Rachel saw another opportunity, she looked up and saw the wreckage of a Pelican lodged inside right above the recovering Freelancer. She tossed her only grenade up and aimed her shogun and pulled the trigger. The grenade exploded and shattered the brick holding the precariously hanging aircraft and it collapsed onto the doomed Freelancer. Rachel watched as the Freelancer was smashed by the enormous pile of Pelican and building it took down with it. She grinned triumphantly and heard FILSS in her head congratulate her.

"Excellent work Rachel."

She shrugged and walked back inside where the rest of the exhausted but triumphant team was waiting for her.

"We'd better get out of here," Tucker suggested, "those assholes probably called their buddies at the tower and sent for reinforcements."

"I'd say so mate, unless you're expecting at least a company of reinforcements," Monty agreed, and confirmed.

"What do you suggest?" Liz asked.

"I say we fight, we've got two automated tanks and the element of surprise," Lisa put in.

"Not what I had in mind," Liz groaned.

"Blarg blarg honk," Junior piped up, hoisting his plasma rifle.

"I think we know what the Elite wants."

Pacifica City, Harbor

0545 Hours

Group 2

"What was that!?"

"Nothing Donut, stop worrying so much," Kate replied to Donut's fearful squeals.

"Was it a spider?!" Donut whimpered again.

Kate groaned as she and Donut continued their ascension towards the top of the lighthouse. They were on a mission to find out if there were any survivors from the crashed Hornet that had smashed into the twenty story building when it had been badly damaged in battle against the Rebels. Sarge had ordered the two make sure the coast was clear before they decided to move out. And so here they were stalking around in the pitch black with the occasional lightning flash illuminating the scene with ghostly light that gnawed at their nerves. Donut's constant screaming and frightened whispers would have given away their position if Kate's own demons didn't.

"Kate?" Donut said, walking up behind her as they arrived at the entrance to the next stairwell.

Kate stood there frozen, weapon hands trembling in complete fear. There before them was the single most thing that she was afraid of, the massive staircase was bent and mangled, and was also over a hundred feet off the ground. One false step would kill them both as they went up the stairs, and they knew it.

"Kate," Donut tried to console her and coax her to turn around to face him.

Kate refused to move, she stood there deathly paralyzed by her fear of heights. Donut decided to try something that he had seen Sarge do with him and it worked on him, why not her?

He put his hand on her shoulder and tried to pull her back toward him away from the stairs.

"I know a way we can get up there without you having to touch those stairs," Donut whispered, not getting any response he shrugged and picked her up bridal style. She wasn't very heavy at all, even in her armor, and Donut managed to hold her easily.

She felt him pick her up and start walking but behind her visor she had her eyes closed and instinctively grabbed around his neck for support. But when she opened her eyes she immediately wished she hadn't.

"Donut!" she screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw the gaping black abyss through the metal grating they were going up. She started squirming in his grip, clawing at his neck to stay as high above the blackness below as she could.

"Kate...please...stop...can't breathe."

"Don't drop me, don't drop me, don't drop me!" Kate yelled frantically as they further ascended into the building.

"Kate stop or I'll..."

_CRASH!_

Donut stopped and stumbled as the deck below him shook with the impact of a very heavy object striking it. Kate instantly began screaming into his ear as they recovered from the blow of the object striking behind them. As soon as they regained their balance Donut saw a ghostly but familiar blue light shine from behind him and felt the heat start to emanate from the source. Kate looked up to see a sight that made her faint instantly. She hung limp from Donut's arms as Donut himself considered what the Hell he was going to do.

"Aww...Isn't this sweet," a loud feminine voice said from above Donut.

"It is, isn't it Agent Maryland?" a very deep threatening voice responded from behind the two.

Donut looked around through his visor, not daring to move his helmet, and saw the only thing that might save them, a single chain hanging from the ceiling. He had no idea if he could make it with Kate in his arms but it was either that or being cut to shreds by the massive presence of the Elite behind him. He chose the chain.

"What the..."

Donut made the leap of faith and grabbed ahold of the chain in one hand while he precariously grasped Kate around the waist. In that moment he felt himself falling as the chain started unwinding.

But as suddenly as the feeling started it ended. He opened his eyes and looked around, he forgot, there was a platform not six feet below where he was standing. The Elite looked at him curiously from six feet above him with his sword glowing dimly in the light. Donut looked up and saw the feminine form of a Freelancer in bright green and blue armor shaking her head in disbelief.

So Donut did what he normally did in situations like this, he ran screaming like a little girl straight down the stairs without a care for the instability and shaking he caused. He dared not look back to see whether or not he was being followed but once he reached the last floor he found out really quickly that he was, red plasma hammered all around him along with bullets that pulverized the concrete as they struck Not feet from his head. He busted through the door and into the storm screaming as he went still carrying Kate in his arms.

"Sarge!" he yelled as he saw the rest of the team getting ready inside the building.

"Donut! Uh oh," Sarge yelled as a hail of bullets made their way through the walls and plasma melted the concrete as it burned through the wall.

"What the Hell?!" Carmen screamed as she saw the two pink soldiers come out, "Kate if you fainted again I swear to God..."

BOOM!

the whole side of the lighthouse simply exploded as the Freelancer and her alien companion unleashed a fire storm of explosive rounds into the sides of the structure as Donut ran into the building Where the rest of the team was.

"Sarge, I think now's a good time to run."

"Agreed," Sarge said as he saw the two menacing figures start to run out, weapons raised.

As one, the Reds hopped into their vehicles with Donut gingerly placing Kate in the bed of the Hog and then jumping onto the back of his Mongoose. The team then floored it through the weak door of the garage and out into the street with the two hostiles somehow right behind them. But they figured it out rather quickly, flares of flame from the backs of the duo revealed the presence of jet packs that thrust them forward.

"Carmen take them out!" Sarge ordered over the sound of the Warthog's radio which blared Tejano music as it tore through the city streets right behind Donut who weaved his way in and out of the debris on the street. Tungsten slugs went tearing at the vague forms of the enemy combatants and slashed into the buildings that were unfortunate enough to be where Carmen aimed. The Freelancer and the Elite expertly bobbed and weaved, activating and deactivating their jet packs at opportune moments to help themselves evade the fire from the Reds. They steadily grew closer to the Warthog and finally the Elite thrust himself onto the Warthog and kicked at the turret before Carmen could fire, the barrel went wide, firing off into a building consumed by fire from a piece of a Longsword being embedded in it. Carmen ducked as the Elite cut at her with his sword and slashed the whole of the turret clean off. Sarge saw this and wheeled his shotgun around and fired at the Elite who then activated a large wrist shield that flared red as the impact drained it to near critical levels. Carmen too brought her shotgun to bear and fired as the Elite jetted up and off of the Warthog to avoid the potentially deadly blast. By now Kate stirred and saw their situation and immediately started to act.

"What the?" she yelled as she saw the figures of the Freelancer and the Elite right behind them.

"Start shooting already!" Carmen yelled as she fired at the pursuing duo.

Kate yanked her sniper rifle up and started firing her powerful weapon as Donut led them onto a large highway that led straight up in between the large skyscrapers. Bullets and plasma flew in both directions as they fought and ran through the city, lightning flashed all around them as rain caught in their visors and wind threw them around viciously. Their headlights barely kept them on track as the large highway led the higher into the skyline of the advanced skyscrapers that burned from impacts in battle in several pockets. But then the end of the road became quite apparent, Donut saw it first, And he wasn't hesitant to point it out.

"Sarge! End of the line!"

"Dammit Donut!" Sarge yelled firing a blast from his Shotgun and ducked behind the seat as bullets whizzed over his head.

"There's building right in front of us, we can make the jump Sarge," Carmen pointed out.

"Are you crazy woman?!"

"Sarge, trust me."

"Okay, Lopez floor it, Donut! Get behind us we're going for it!"

"Yes sir."

The Warthog accelerated as fast as it could go, the Reds inside held on tight as they braced themselves for the perhaps the most dramatic moment in their lives. The Warthog drove straight and true, and for a split second the Reds couldn't hear anything outside of their own breathing filtered by their helmets and the loud drumming of their hearts in their ears. Lightning flashed as the Warthog went airborne and the only one to speak was Lopez.

""We're gonna die," he calmly said.

"Way to ruin the moment Lopez," Carmen said as the Warthog began falling.

But the moment was not yet over, the Warthog was soon followed by Donut on the Mongoose. The two vehicles soared through the air as they came towards the building directly in front of them. They finally smashed into and through the glass and into the confines of a large white reception desk. Glass flew everywhere as the vehicle flipped over end over end sending everyone in it flying into the room where they landed roughly. Donut came flying and screaming into the room as his Mongoose crashed into the desk itself and sent him flying into the glass behind the desk and shattered the painted red cross that emblazoned the glass window and hit hard into a column of computer towers. Sparks flew off the consoles inside as he tried to recover and made his way to the break in the glass.

"Donut!" Kate screamed as she ran over to him and poked her head into the room to be sure he was alright.

"I'm okay, I guess. That was...awesome! Sarge can we go again?"

"No!" everyone in the room yelled.

"Everyone alright?" Sarge asked looking around the destroyed interior of the room. His Warthog was trashed, its wheels were wrecked and mauled, the undercarriage and suspension were shot, and every glass panel was effectively gone. Bits of metal, glass, and concrete littered the floor as rain poured in, making the lighting fixtures flicker on and off as the Reds regained their composure. Donut crawled over the counter into the main room with everone else as the group grabbed their weapons from off the floor.

"I guess so, no one's dead so I suppose that means we're fine," Carmen said checking to be sure everyone was present.

"For now humans."

The Reds spun around to see the dripping wet figures of the black armored Elite and the green female Freelancer, Maryland. They held their weapons aimed and ready at the five Reds who held their own weapons at the hostiles. In a straight up fight it was fairly obvious who would win here, but both parties were in for a surprise, a familiar voice piped up from behind the Reds and two figures strode in, one in teal and purple armor holding a sniper rifle at the ready, and another with a battle rifle in gray and yellow armor.

"I don't think so chopsticks," Wash said as he and Jenny stormed into the room.

"Only one person in the universe knows me by that absurd name, and that person is Agent Washington," the Elite replied quite angry.

"Nice to see you too, Agent Maryland, I would suggest you either surrender or run. Although I wouldn't suggest running with all these sniper rifles in the room," Wash replied without any emotion at all.

"You always were cocky Wash, and you paid for it once before," Maryland snarled, "and you'll end up paying again if you don't watch it."

"I wouldn't be so sure, these Reds aren't the same idiots that you fought against at Outpost 20-A, these guys are here to kill and they've got the training to prove it."

"I'd like to see that threat come true, it has been a while since I have had a challenge Agent Washington," the Elite taunted, trying to goad Wash into a fight.

"Nice try, but I'm not about to fall for that again."

"Well, if we're not going to fight Wash there's no reason for us to be here," Maryland said, stepping back towards the hole in the side of the building along with her partner. The Reds along with Wash and Jenny followed them carefully and then the two hostiles stepped back and fell out of sight.

The Reds and Blues ran towards thye edge but it was too late, they'd disappeared, and their cover was officially blown.

BIG Z: Oh thank God, it's about time that this story gets to be at the most recently updated list.

Tex: It sure does, too bad about Wash not showing his skills yet, and I would really like to know some more about these girls from Ridgeline.

BIG Z: Oh don't worry, there's a story in the making that explores the history of those gals and Hawaii and Sergey. It's scheduled to come out around Febuary, the birthday of this story.

Next Chapter Preview: One storm ends, another begins.


	19. Chapter 19

**Tex: Finally, another chapter. Z you're on top of your game.**

**Vivian: I miss June. School's got her locked away right now.**

**BIG Z: Yeah I know the feeling. Just have to fight through it and type fast whenever you get the chance.**

**AgentMaryland: Hey guys, hey Z. Nice action scene last time. Is there going to be more of that?**

***Smiles confindentally.* BIG Z: More than you know.**

Chapter 19

Planet, New Solstice, Pacifica City, Government Quadrant

4/25/2570

0630 Hours

Team Three

"Hawaii, you okay?" Alaska asked quietly as the large man sat tied to a chair without his armor on, instead he had on a set of urban camo fatigues.

"Feels like I just got hit by one of those swells back home, then thrown against the cliffs of California," he groaned.

"Yeah, I know how you feel," she said leaning against her chair as well. She'd been stripped of her all but her fatigues and a pair of socks. She too was tied to a small metal folding chair and had the absolute shit beat out of her by several guards and had the blood stains on her gray shirt, face, and hair to prove it. She and Hawaii were both back to back, not able to see one another or the damage that had been done to each other.

"I'm sorry; I didn't want this to happen to you."

"Hey, it comes with the job, don't worry about me," Alaska replied.

"You know I can't do that. You mean too much to me."

"I love you too, but we'll get out of this."

"I know, Wash is still out there, along with eighteen other Reds and Blues. Those dudes and dudettes know what to do, and they've got a pair of tanks and training from Tex, Wash, and I. Just hope they can do it. If they don't…" Hawaii trailed off, thinking of what had happened to the two Blues with them, Sister and Sergey.

The two had been separated and beaten severely. They had heard the pounding of fist against flesh, and the grunts and crying out of pain from the two. Sister had been wounded by a Shotgun blast and was in a lot of pain, even without having her wounded shoulder wrenched behind her back, wrists tied together in his solitary cell. Sergey was even worse off, he'd been very well bloodied, taunting the Freelancer troopers with insults that would have easily set off Alaska, she noted. But Sister was no soldier, and she whimpered at the torture she received, having her digital blue fatigues bloodied from cuts on her brow and mouth and the wounded shoulder that had been agitated and bled and stung. The Blues had not earned this, and why the Freelancers had felt the need to do that to them was beyond the two former Agents.

"Sister, you okay," Sergey rasped as quietly as he could.

"Sergey, I'm scared, I…I can't take it."

"You'll be okay Sister, I promise, when we get out of here…"

"Shutup Blue!" a gray armored Freelancer trooper yelled pounding on the door.

"Fuck you, she's wounded. At least let me help her. She doesn't know anything about any of this!"

"I said shut it!" another pound on the door put through the message. Sister wouldn't get any help.

Sergey just glared at the back of the soldier's helmet, wishing to kill him as soon as he could, but more important, he needed to get to Sister. She was in no shape to take any more pain, and every time he heard a blow land or her cry out in pain he felt the blow himself, but it was in his heart and his gut. He twisted in rage and fear of the pain that she was going through. He tugged hard against the ties on his wrists, he had to get loose. Because if he didn't, he feared Sister and him might not live to see each other, or at all.

But the situation for two of the team's members was even more precarious. Church and Tex were stuck in a small room under constant supervision by at least four or five Freelancer troopers with Assault Rifles. Each had been strapped down on a pair of scientific tables with their bodies angled up so that they could face the door. They'd found out quickly that the room was set up with an impressive array of electromagnetic holding devices that held them inside the room, they weren't actually set up recently, they'd been there for a while. They'd been expected.

"Church," Tex whispered in her frozen state.

"Yeah I know, this was all planned, he knew we would be here."

"But how? There was absolutely no way he knew where and when we'd arrive. And not knowing shit pisses me off."

In that moment a door opened, revealing a man in his fifties or early sixties, but you wouldn't have been able to tell thanks in part to his straight posture and dark hair and goatee. He wore thick glasses that helped him read more than see; these glasses now were dully lit with data scrolling themselves across the glass. This was the Director and Tex and Church each felt a chill run down their spines as he walked in with a pair of large Freelancers and a pair of lab assistants at his side. They rolled forward carts of tools and equipment that meant only one thing to the two A.I. Each began trying to fidget in place, but couldn't move at all. They were stuck, and they were in great danger.

"Hello Allison," the man's Southern drawl started in an even tone.

"I'm not the person you knew. I'm Tex, Agent of Freelancer. Former Agent of Project Freelancer, don't patronize me."

"My dear, do you honestly think that you are any different than who you pretend not to be? Dear Epsilon here created you just like her. And she was just like Allison."

"No she isn't," Church growled.

The Director turned on his heel, annoyed at this little fragment interrupting him.

"Epsilon, you may think that you have a firm grasp on the memories, but you are sadly mistaken…"

Just as he stepped forward to speak there was a large explosion, then another. Light shined in through the window out in the main hallway as the rain began to pewter off as the long awaited eye of the storm arrived. Each of the explosions shook the building and the soldiers and Agents tensed as they arrived at one conclusion: They were under attack from Rebel forces that had been massing and waiting to attack into the city the Freelancers had taken so easily.

"Agents, to your stations, I leave this in your capable hands."

Just like that the guards left, save for a pair of troopers who the Agent ordered to stay. More explosions and gunfire began to echo from the city, dozens of weapon emplacements, ranging from large artillery pieces to machine guns. Church and Tex could see tracers rise into the sky as the Freelancers defended themselves from numerous aircraft ranging from Longswords dropping precision bombs to Pelicans that dropped off troops at large parks along with tanks and Warthogs. Dozens of explosions dotted the city as Freelancer posts were assaulted very precise and unrelenting attacks from both the air and the ground. Artillery rained down in torrents as the screams of citizens screamed out in terror as the ground shook beneath their feet. Freelancer positions took heavy fire but managed to return fire with their lighter but still effective weaponry. Missiles and cannon fire arched into the sky, swatting away numerous air craft that tumbled out of the air in pillars of flame and smoke. The two AI knew exactly what this new screw-up in this day of screw-ups meant; they would have to fight an even more pitched battle to escape.

"Tex, what now?" Church asked quietly, "With these damn Rebels attacking how the Hell are we gonna get the fuck out of this nightmare?"

"I'm working on it. This is the Director remember? He has planned for everything, so this would be something that he would be prepared for, so he must have a way off the planet. So we break out and take his ride," Tex responded.

"Oh what're you gonna do, just get up and walk out just like that? Last I checked we're tied up a little at the moment," Church snapped sarcastically.

"Oh I forgot about that, of course I remembered about that you idiot!" Tex yelled back as another shell landed near the tall building. But then, another shake rocked the building and they heard the explosion as if it were inside the actual building itself. Then another explosion rocked the building, and another.

"What the Hell was that?!"

Pacifica City, Government Quadrant

0630 Hours

Team Five

"Firing main cannon," Sheila spoke again as the tank fired another main gun round into the tall building surrounded by Freelancer troopers. Dozens of troops and several Agents swarmed around the building as they came under attack from the Red and Blue force, which included two tanks, both of which were having quite a bit of fun firing away into the Freelancer ranks.

"Now this is more like it mate!" Monty bellowed taking out a swerving Warthog with one blast, sending the shattered vehicle into a tent where it flattened the building and caught it on fire.

A single Freelancer tank emerged from the large underground garage along with a pair of Warthogs with a few dozen more infantry to add onto the fire being directed at the Reds and Blues. The Reds and Blues split, taking different flanks on either side of their respective tanks and advanced through the numerous divots and shell holes that scattered around the grassy park surrounding the buildings that made up the complex the Director had set up as his HQ. Several tents had already been leveled by the Red and Blue tanks and Rebel artillery and lay in smoking wrecks as the Freelancers and their troops ran into prepared sandbag bunkers to try and fight off the Reds and Blues.

"Tucker watch out!" Lea screamed as she tackled Tucker as a rocket slammed into the muddy puddle next to them. They both looked where they were both standing as Rachel and Caboose ran past them with Caboose wildly firing his rifle at anything that moved. Rachel tossed a grenade out of their line of sight and an explosion detonated and mud was tossed into the air along with a pair of Freelancer soldiers.

"Come on, let's go!" Tucker yelled, getting to his feet to join his team mates.

The two ran forward, while ducking through a jungle gym that sparked violently with bullets and shrapnel striking all around it. The two fired at every chance they got as they closed the distance with Junior right behind them, pouring fire from his plasma rifle. An explosion detonated right in front of Tucker but he continued and ran through the settling dust, hopping over the crater, weapon blazing away. Lea ran right to his left, and tossed another grenade at a bunker firing its heavy machine gun at whatever moved. The grenade exploded in front of the emplacement, and the turret turned toward them and fired. Bullets pinged all around them as sparks, bits of metal, and bits of soaked wood from nearby trees were pulverized by the heavy rounds. Tucker ran past Freelancer troops whose blood mixed in with the water of the storm and made every puddle that held a body a pinkish quagmire. Their armor was by now caked in mud, turning their normally Blue shaded armor into an almost brown and Blue shaded camouflage.

Mud and brown water ran down their visors as they all ran forward under increasingly heavy fire and were finally stopped by the sheer intensity of the rouds screaming in at them.

"Sheila, a little help here!" Tucker yelled into the radio. He was rewarded with a large concussion and blast wave from the nearby bunker getting hit by one of Sheila's heavy rounds. The trees shuddered and the rain fell again from the soaked leaves and as the concussion of the firing of a tank cannon shook the water droplets loose. The men inside screamed as they were thrown about like rag dolls and lay in bleeding wrecks of bodies. Most were killed instantly but some still lay wounded on the ground as the Blues pressed forward with Sheila right behind them, plowing through the trees and ruined jungle gym. There was no dust thankfully, thanks in part to the recent raining that made them step into puddles that reached their ankles with every step

The Reds were having an even rougher go at it. They had to run straight up the road, taking cover behind sandbag emplacements and ruined cars and Warthogs. Grif and Simmons were hopping over ruined cars against the median firing over the grassy structure that divided the three lane road up to the skyscraper with heavy machine gun fire raining down on them while rockets and shells from the Freelancers and their one tank rained down on Monty who rolled forward, crushing everything in his path. He fired once, destroying one machine gun in a fifth floor balcony and sending glass raining down from the smoking and flaming building that had taken at least twenty hits from him, Sheila and Rebel fire of all kinds. The Freelancer tank fired again, this time hitting a ruined police car sent it airborne where it crashed onto a wooden checkpoint and crushed the fragile structure. Monty switched target priority and slew his big main gun over until it rested on the turret of the Freelancer tank. He fired a pair of armor piercing SABOT rounds that sliced into the weak turret neck and killed the tank in a brilliant and powerful explosion that ripped the unfortunate tank's turret clean off the hull. But swarms of tracers still lanced out at the Reds who still ran forward. Small drops of water left by the storm jumped from the area around the troopers like dust would and soaked everything with their minute presence. The two Red twins sprinted forward from cover to cover firing to give one another cover as they went.

"Move, I'll cover you," Lisa said, pointing to a burnt out Scorpion from an earlier battle.

"Fuck that, you go," Liz responded, seeing the tank and the route to it get torn up by heavy fifty caliber machine gun rounds.

"I went first last time, your turn!" Lisa continued arguing.

"That means I just got here, so you're better rested. You go!" Liz retorted, not moving a muscle towards the next position.

But a thump on the ground behind settled matters rather quickly. They both turned to see the hissing form of a grenade right there and they looked at each other and bolted. The grenade went off as they got up to run away and were thrown over the sandbag revetment they had hidden behind. Liz, being the slower of the pair took the worst of the hit. She felt the painful burning of shrapnel in her leg and could feel the fragments grind in her leg as they cut at her tissue every time she moved the damaged leg. Blood began to seep from her leg onto the wet ground as her sister watched helplessly from behind the cover of an overturned Warthog. Liz could feel the blood loss start to take effect as she tried to squirm over to a piece of cover. She saw her orange armored plates start to develop red streaks on top of the black shiny metal bits that had embedded themselves deep into her leg. Her rifle lay beside her and she reached over and grabbed it, feeling it slip in her bloody hand's grip. She pulled it into her shoulder and started to fire from where she was from behind a piece of uprooted pavement.

"Liz is hit!" Lisa yelled over the radio, turning to look over to her sister who was still bleeding off to the side. She fired away, trying desperately to stop the incoming fire coming at her wounded sister. But there was help on the way.

Simmons ducked down beside her and shouldered the squad's heaviest weapon, a rocket launcher. He fired it, seeing the first missile rocket into a metal bunker where three Freelancer troopers were firing away with an MG. The rocket hit right on target, killing the crew and banana peeling the triple barreled weapon into a useless wreck. He turned the weapon to the right and fired again, hitting a Warthog that had made the mistake of being stationary. He ducked down to look back at Liz who was by now being tended to by Grif who ran/limped over as fast as he could to her place.

"Hey…hey handsome," she managed as Grif grabbed her by her arms and started to drag her towards a crack in the side wall and into a ditch where they'd be out of the line of fire.

"Hey yourself," Grif returned, breathing heavily with the recent activity of battle, running around, and dragging her ten yards to cover. He pulled her into a three foot deep ditch and leaned her against the edge closest to the road and started to try and apply the best first aid he could. If only he had some Aloe Vera.

Her blood ran down the slick grass and into the draining water quickly and Grif immediately started worrying for her. She was bleeding out fast and there was little he could do. He couldn't see past her golden visor but he knew her beautiful face was by now quite pale with the blood loss and he grasped a hold of her hand and started to squeeze it as he tried to apply pressure to the bad wound. Liz groaned in pain and sat up trying to force his now bloody hand away but she felt herself grow light headed and fell back onto the slick wet grass, just holding onto Grif's hand like her life depended on it. But Grif knew that if she didn't get real medical help soon, she wouldn't make it.

Pacifica City, High Rise Hospital #3

0645

Group Two

"Sarge, I'm getting something on the net," Carmen piped up from behind the Red column that was marching behind Wash along with Jenny, Vic, a tied up 4-7-9, and a doctor of the Hospital they now resided in. The explosions had rocked the building as soon as the counter-attack on the city had started and the Reds and Blues had raced for the Pelican they'd captured earlier in the evening.

"What do ya got Corporal?" Sarge replied stopping to hear her report.

"Sounds like…" Carmen said, listening intently trying to get a proper fix on the source. When she heard a distinct and familiar voice call out on the comm. Again she stiffened and recognized it. It was the voice of Lisa, calling out that Liz had been hit apparently, "It's Lisa! She's broadcasting on an open channel. They're…" she stopped and listened to the intense sounds of battle and heard the Blues' chatter as well, calling out enemy positions as they tried to advance on some target, "…they're in a hell of a fight right now Sarge. I'm trying to pinpoint their location now."

"Alright, you heard the lady, let's go people, we have places to be, people to fight!" Sarge said turning to run forward with Wash leading the way. It didn't take long until they were at the door to the Pelican and were running into the interior, and seated themselves as Vic ran into the pilot's cabin and started up the Pelican's quickly ran through the preflight checks, making sure that their ride was as it should be, and soon, the Reds began getting antsy.

"What's taking so long Vic?!" Sarge demanded.

"Yo dude, this isn't like starting up a Warthog, you have to run some certain systems checks and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo. Just chillax bro, we'll be there. Although I could use a little help over here; preferably from a real pilot."

Four-Seven picked her head up at that one, she knew what Vic was suggesting, and she couldn't believe it. Although they'd been good friends in the past, neither had been pilots together, especially not in actual combat.

"Four-Seven, you're helping Vic get us to our team," Wash ordered sternly.

"Then cut me loose Wash," she responded turning her shoulders so that he could actually cut the ties on her wrists. Wash complied, although the Reds and Blue didn't like it at all.

She got up quickly, and ran into the cabin and hopped into the co-pilot's seat, which she'd never sat in herself. Immediately she and Vic began flying through the preflight checks and were done in seconds. Each of them were ready to go and started up the four engines and lifted off, and took to the battle torn sky. The bird shook with numerous blows from near misses from missiles, rockets, and Triple-A batteries. The Reds and single Blue were tossed around badly in their harnesses as the Pelican was flown down low to avoid the battle raging in the sky above them. For once they weren't battered by the raging storm, whose eye they were inthe middle of, and could actually see the smoke rising from a large skyscraper directly to their front that flashed occasionally from hits at ground level. As the Pelican drew nearer they saw two tanks in the zoom cameras in their HUD's.

"Looks like the rest of your team found the Director, Wash. I'd be ready to go. The landing zone's pretty hot right now, lots of fighting, and…"

All of a sudden the Pelican bucked with a solid hit from a large barreled chain gun mounted on a strafing Rebel Longsword. The ship started to drop in altitude as the damage began to overwhelm the two pilots and the Reds began to have flashbacks of when their own Pelican had crashed in the fight against the Meta a few months ago.

"Not again!" Sarge grumbled out loud as the Pelican scraped along the rooftops and came in at a steep angle right at the base of the building that seemed to be at the center of a fierce battle. Bullets slashed at the heavy armor as the Freelancers saw that the Pelican was on a collision course.

"Just like that first flight in basic eh Four-Seven?" Vic teased as he pulled as hard as he could on the controls.

"Oh shutup Vic. That wasn't my fault!" she screamed as she too pulled on the flight controls desperately as the building seemed to fill up the canopy window.

In the back of the Pelican Donut held onto the strong crash bars for dear life as he held his eyes shut. He'd never flown before in combat conditions and he was not too happy right now and held back the urge to scream like a little girl. He felt a comforting presence grab his left hand as the Pelican shook and the cabin's first holes began to appear in the floor and the walls. He looked over to the left and saw that Kate was holding his hand as they both, along with the other members of their squad, fell toward their destination.

Wash was steely, unwavering and calm as the ship began to fall apart and light began to filter into the ship. HE saw that Jenny as well was calm and he saw her nod toward him as he ship hurtled downward in the final seconds before they crashed.

The ship hit hard, and everyone on the ground paused to see the ship in the final seconds of its last flight. What they saw was a flaming dropship, hurtling downwards at a steep forty-five degree angle. The flaming wreck was being pulverized by MG fire from the ground as the ship came in right at the tower's lowest floor and the squad of Freelancer troops and a few Agents that were there to defend the entrance. But at the last possible instant the Pelican veered right, and smashed right into a tank that was rolling out of the large garage below the building. The whole of the dropship disappeared into the large structure, and took the tank with it. Flame and debris flew out of the shattered garage entrance as the Freelancers tried to steady themselves as they tried to make sense of the oddity. But they were then surprised by numerous explosions that tore into the leftovers of their ranks and their main positions. The two tanks and the handful of Reds and Blues that had been assaulting them had come back. In a few seconds their position was compromised and they were wiped out to a man. The last one to go down was an Agent that had survived the first salvo but was finished off by the swords of a single large Elite running him through.

"Good work Junior," Tucker said in acknowledgement of his son's accomplishment.

"Tucker," Lea said, running up behind him.

"You okay?" Tucker asked, reloading his weapon as he stepped out of cover to examine the area as Sheila rolled into the square and the other two Blues, Rachel and Caboose, poked their heads out.

"Excellent work everyone," FILSS said from Rachel's helmet.

"Wow Rachel, you are so cool. Those Freelancers were like…" Tucker groaned as Caboose began trying to reenact the screams of the enemy troops that they'd killed.

"Where're the Reds?" Lea asked seeing the absence of the Reds and their own tank.

Both Blues looked around just as one of the towering concrete roadblocks tipped over and smashed into the ground as Monty drove right over it. But the Blues' half joy was tainted as they saw that one of the Reds was laying on top of the tank, with the others trying to attend to her. It was Liz, she'd been badly hurt, and was being carefully tended to by the Reds who protected their wounded friend loyally as the tank rejoined the others.

"Is she…" Tucker managed stepping forward to ask the needed question.

But just as he managed that sentence his motion tracker went off behind him. Red dots were moving up from what had been the main garage that had been wrecked by the untimely crash of a Pelican. The others, including the two tanks turned their guns at the entrance as the first shapes stumbled through the thick black smoke. Out came the last of Red Team; Sarge, Carmen, Donut, Kate and Lopez all filed out of the wrecked entrance.

"Sarge!" Simmons said, "Donut, you guys are alright."

"Of course we are Simmons, and look what we found," Sarge turned to point at two of the last Blues missing, Wash and Jenny.

"Jenny! Where have you been girl?!" Lea said as Rachel too smiled in recognition of her team mate's return. Doc and Vic also hobbled out, carefully holding a bleeding Four-Seven in between them.

"You know, seeing the sights, getting to know the locals."

"Enough chit chat," Wash said stepping forward, "this is it. This is the place. All we have left is one last push, all or nothing. The Director's hiding in there somewhere, and it's our job to finish what we started. We'll split up. Blues, you're with me, Reds stay on the first floor in cover with Doc, Vic, and Four-Seven. Wait for us," Wash said stepping towards the building.

"What are we supposed to do in the mean time?" Carmen asked, helping Liz off the tank with Doc's supervision.

"Well, do what you Reds seem to be very good at doing," Wash replied with a smirk.

"Let's break some shit."

**BIG Z: I like the way I ended this one.**

**AgentMaryland: Me too.**

**Tex: Not bad, although I really don't like being a damsel in distress Z.**

**BIG Z: I'll remember that next time Tex, I swear. You'll have your chance.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The final push. All or nothing, let's do this.**


	20. Chapter 20

**BIG Z: I'm so excited for this one, here we are the finale!**

**Tex: Wow, what a run. Great job. And it took less than a year to do it too.**

**BIG Z: I wish June were here though, she deserves a lot of credit for the romance in this story. Give her mad props for writing a good chunk of this.**

Chapter 20

Planet, New Solstice, Pacifica City, Government Quadrant

4/25/2570

0600 Hours

Blue Team

This was it, the final push toward victory, everything that they had all been through, all the years of pointless fighting, deceit, and suffering all boiled down to this. Six Blues, led by Agent Washington walked carefully down the stairwell from ground level. So far they hadn't found any of the supposed guards that the Director must have guarding him from assault and assassinations, like they planned on doing. But that didn't mean there weren't any waiting in ambush.

As Wash led the Blues down the rubble choked stairwell they heard a lot of talking down a branching hallway that flickered with erratic lights on the ceiling. The Blues looked at each other then at Wash.

"Follow me," he said with the utmost seriousness.

Just like that they walked down towards the source of the noise. Wash led with Jenny and Tucker right behind him and Lea and Rachel behind them with Junior and Caboose right behind them covering them from behind. They all felt the fear well up in their throats as they continued on down the hall until they felt the nervousness subside and their rudimentary training took over. Wash stopped at the corner in the hall and grabbed the corner to look around the corner and saw two shadows at the wall opposite one another with Assault rifles in their hands and chatting with each other loudly. Wash brought his hands back to their position and took one deep breath and turned to his team.

"I've got this."

Wash braced himself and ran around the corner and lifted his BR and sighted his crosshairs on the one to the left and fired a single three round burst that hit right in his head and threw his body to the side. Wash felt his rifle's recoil into his shoulder and then shifted the barrel to the right and prepared to fire. But when he felt he had a clean shot and pulled the trigger he heard the sickening click of a jam. Wash was so shocked he didn't even try looking to the enemy soldier as he brought his rifle to bear. Everything in that moment seemed to slow down. The barrel of the rifle began coming closer and closer to his having a shot and then in a loud and shocking blast he thought his ears had exploded. But when he saw what the source of the noise was there was a pink mist where the soldier had been standing and the body of the man was ten feet from where he had been about to kill Wash. He turned to see the smoking barrel of Jenny's sniper rifle aimed right where the soldier had been.

"Now we're even Wash," she said, lowering her weapon.

"Hello!" a very familiar voice called out, "Wash is that you bro?!"

"Hawaii!" Wash said, running to the door he had heard it from.

He ran to a metal door with iron crossbars at the middle of the door. Wash saw two people tied to chairs in urban camo fatigues and immediately tried kicking the door in. The door flew in and Wash ran inside to see a face he thought he wouldn't see in this position. It was Alaska, Hawaii's old girlfriend.

"Alaska?"

"Wash, I thought you were dead?" she said with a really shocked expression on her bruised face.

"A lot of people have said that today."

Wash could see their faces had been brutally beaten and bloodied from obviously pissed off Freelancers. They had obviously been fighting the Freelancers and been captured. But they seemed fine now and ready to fight.

"Can you walk?" Wash asked, untying the two of them.

"You know it dude!"

Wash nodded and ran back outside to see that several other doors had been opened up and the Blues had brought out two Blue clothed soldiers, Sergey and Sister. They had been even worse off than the two Freelancers, blood ran down their faces and on Sister's right shoulder blood stained a torn and ripped up bandage where she'd been wounded by a serious bullet wound. Her face was full of cuts and bruises from numerous hits and torture. Her hair was stained with dirt and grime and she herself seemed badly out of it. Her eyes seemed very groggy and unfocused and her skin pale.

Sergey rushed over to Sister, helping them bring her carefully down to the floor as Jenny rushed over with a rudimentary first aid kit to try and help in any way she could. Sergey cupped her face in his hand and was elated to see her smile weakly as she opened her eyes.

"It's okay now, we're gonna be fine Sister. The others are here see?"

"Hello," Caboose waved happily.

"Honk," Junior added as well.

"Sergey, you alright?" Wash asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but she's not looking too good," he responded quickly, eyes focused on Sister's wound that bled from under the tattered blue uniform down her arm and chest. Jenny worked quickly, applying gauze lined with a bio-foam mixture that began expanding into the wounds from the shotgun pellets as Jenny pushed down. The bleeding quickly stopped from the application of the stuff and Sergey could see that its effects worked like magic. Sister grimaced at the sensation of a thousand little ants crawling around and biting into the places where the anti-bacterial foam worked its way in the Blues' attempt to help her. Sergey snatched a vial of morphine from the pack and softly grabbed Sister's hand and squeezed it reassuringly as pressed the automatic needle onto her skin and pressed the button. The hiss of the shot reverberated through the tunnel, making Caboose shudder as he remembered he didn't like needles. But the groggy and dull eyes of Sister became ones of loopy elation as the substance began to take its hold and numb down the pain. A crooked smile reached from ear to ear as she looked around carefully for the first time and saw the gathered Blues in attendance.

"Oh hey guys, what's up? Are we here to have a super-hot orgy? Because that would be awesome!" she rambled out as no one paid her any attention.

Caboose and Junior breached another room to find that the armor for the captured members of the team was conveniently stored inside.

"Agent Washingtub, look!" Caboose said, waving Washington over.

He walked over to see the armor of the soldiers against the wall along with their weapons. They had been very brutally treated from the crash and Sergey's armor had a gash from combat across his chest and Wash could imagine which Freelancer had done it. Then again they all had that ability. Wash thought about how lucky he had been or how skilled he was that he had come out with just a gash in his armor. Wash nodded toward Caboose and Junior in satisfaction and turned to return to the soldiers at the end of the hall which were ready to move forward again.

"Aww…" Sister groaned loudly as Sergey tried helping her into her armor piece by piece, "I've heard of using protection Sergey but not even I can do much in this."

"Bow chicka bow wow."

Hawaii and Alaska got to work putting their more advanced suits of armor on as fast as possible to make sure they wouldn't get caught unaware like they had when they were captured. Besides, they had to catch the Director before it was too late. They had some unfinished business with that guy.

"Blarg…" Junior breathed perking up as his senses all of a sudden became quite well tuned.

"What is it?" Wash asked, aiming at where Junior was staring intently.

"Blarg honk, blarg," Junior whispered again, pointing his plasma rifles down the hall. In that instant Wash heard the pounding of boots as a column of Freelancer troops stormed down the hall. Junior all of a sudden took off into the darkness out of sight.

"Junior no!" Tuckered said as forcefully as he could to no avail.

"Wash, what's goin' on?" Hawaii asked putting his helmet on as he slid next to Wash with weapons ready.

"Junior just took off," Tucker responded.

"He'll be fine dude, he's an Elite."

Right on cue they all heard the sound of gunfire as screams of panic filled the air just down the dim hall. They could see the bright flashing of rifle fire and blue flashing of plasma. The Blues began moving forward cautiously with Sister being carried by Caboose and Sergey from the back of the pack. The whole time the sound of fighting, and dying, rang out as Junior continued to cut the Freelancers to pieces. But as they reached the end of the hall they heard the sounds die down. Tucker immediately ran around the corner in fear of what had happened. Junior was his son after all, even if he was parasitically implanted and then broke the rules of nature by giving birth to him then draining Caboose of much needed blood, taking his already low IQ down to new heights, or lows as the case may be.

"Junior!"

"Blarg!" Junior was heard roaring, and then seen chucking a Freelancer soldier down the hallway and into Tucker as he rounded the corner. Tucker was thrown into the wall by the burned body and went through a door into a massive room that held something that they had been looking for. Before them stood the massive shape of a space going warship, a Frigate identical to the old _Misfit_. This one had numerous soldiers boarding her in a desperate attempt to evacuate from the imminent threat of the Rebels who were rapidly closing in on them. The Blues were immediately noticed by the Freelancers and there were immediately a dozen troops firing at them and they took cover behind the numerous crates scattered in front of them. Bullets pinged off of the metal and concrete as they too fired back with whatever shots they could get.

"We need to get aboard that ship," Wash yelled as he fired a burst at a pair of troopers and hit them both, killing both of them instantly.

"Not through that crowd!" Jenny replied.

"Well we have to do something dudes!" Hawaii said, pulling out his SPARTAN Laser.

In a split second he aimed his weapon and fired, hitting a gathering of soldiers at the hanger entrance where there were several vehicles being loaded up into the ship. A brilliant explosion lit up the dark chamber and several Warthogs went up in flames from the force of the explosion.

But after the concussion of the explosion reached them the Blues felt more thuds than what they were seeing. Dust began raining down from the ceiling as the roof itself began to shake. The battle simmered down as the shaking began to increase in intensity and at that moment Wash pieced together the source of what was happening.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me."

0600 Hours 

Red Team

"I'm so bored right now," Carmen grumbled, sitting against the door as she watched the quiet hallway that the Reds had settled down in.

Their team was sitting inside a lobby of sorts where they were able to lay down an injured Liz and where Grif was able to sit down. Vic was helping Four-Seven wrap a bandage across her torso at her spot where she was able to sit comfortably. She had her helmet off, letting her short black hair dangle, drenched with sweat from the recent events that had led up to this little rest of the team was settled down at the wide entrance to the building as Doc and Doctor Courtney Anderson, who had tagged along for the ride to help, treated Liz's bad injuries after she had been hit by grenade fragments. She now had her helmet off with a pillow underneath it propping her pale head up so that she could see things going on. Grif sat next to her with Simmons, Lisa, Carmen, and Sarge sitting at the entrance while the two tanks and Lopez, Kate and Donut covered their exit in the main entrance.

"We haven't heard anything from the others in a while, you think they're okay?" Simmons asked.

"I bet they're fine, remember Simmons, we're Red, if the Blues get the job done we win. But if they die, we win. Either way Red Army will come out victorious," Sarge spouted triumphantly.

"And we didn't have to do anything to help and we still get to enjoy the benefits while they risk their necks. Man, this is how we should go about every mission," Grif said from his relaxed spot on the sofa next to Liz.

"Except with less of me getting blown up by a grenade, ow!" Liz screamed in pain after Courtney wrapped a tourniquet around her leg. She was a bit annoyed but better than when she was first treated.

"Stay still," Courtney said, tying a bandage around the treated thigh wound.

"I like that little touch, although having a Doctor right here ruined that little bit of my fun," Carmen said from her spot.

"And more of Grif dying would make this the perfect op," Sarge added.

"I just busted by leg Sarge."

"Exactly, why can't you do anything right scumbag?! If you're going to injure yourself at least have the decency to lose that leg, or better yet your head," Sarge growled back.

"Uhh…what's up with them?" Courtney asked Doc, watching the heated exchange as Sarge yelled at Grif to go try and see if there were snipers outside by walking out into the middle of the city with a sign saying 'shoot me' on his chest.

"You'll get used to it," Liz said as she relaxed as the weak morphine dose took a hold of her and numbed the pain in her leg to an extent.

"I hope he doesn't go through with that threat. We still need to get out of here," Doc said as he finished up wrapping her arm in a tight clean wrapping of medical gauze.

It was at that moment that the metal door behind them opened up with a quick hiss. They were all so tired and unaware they had forgotten that there were a pair of elevators on the wall right behind them. From these doors streamed four Freelancer soldiers who were actually as surprised as the Reds at being face to face with hostiles. They all just stood there waiting for something to happen, a really awkward silence raining down on them like a flood. But it didn't last.

"Get 'em!" Sarge yelled firing his Shotgun at the door entrance as the Freelancers tried to shut the door. But a well-timed grenade throw by Lisa forced the panicked soldiers out of the elevator as the door closed in on them.

The fighting then boiled down to hand to hand combat as the Reds charged into the Freelancer soldiers. Sarge bulldozed into one, taking him to the ground and pulled out a knife as his shotgun was knocked aside. Simmons and Lisa started trading punches with two other Freelancer soldiers and began trading blows like real soldiers. Carmen ran and jumped up off of a couch and kicked one soldier in the visor on her way down and rolled as she landed to take him on as he stumbled back from the kick to the face. Grif was tackled thrown over a sofa as he tried to get up and struggled to keep a knife from his throat as Doc and Courtney cowered behind a couch to stay out of the fight. Doc shielded her with his armored body to keep her from getting hurt as she dug her face into her hands to keep from watching a Doctor's worst nightmare come true.

"A little help here," Grif moaned as he knocked the knife aside only to be punched in the face for his trouble. He was easily losing, and knew it. But he tried one thing in an effort to save himself and kill the Freelancer in one go, "Liz grab it."

Grif kicked over a pistol that had been dislodged from someone's thigh in the fighting and Liz instinctively reached for it. But it was just out of reach, she had to squirm until her finger just brushed the edge. She felt herself rush as fast as she could when she saw the knife near Grif's throat draw ever nearer and she reached until she felt herself falling out of the seat then she finally got a good hold and lifted the Magnum up and aimed it right at the soldier's head and fired. Blood sprayed over Grif's visor as the bullet impacted the soldier's visor and blood dripped from the hole. He shoved the body aside as he saw that the battle wasn't over yet.

Sarge and Carmen had found themselves back to back, fighting opposing enemies. They ducked and blocked attacks from the knife and rifle armed troopers with crude efficiency. Sarge ducked down and managed to slash at his attacker and pulled the pin on his grenade and kicked him back, he exploded not a second later, taking his buddy who had been fighting Carmen with him.

"You just got Sarged," he hollered triumphantly.

"You took my kill!" Carmen said, a bit annoyed.

Simmons and Lisa each had their enemies on the run and drove them into the hallway. Simmons dodged a punch and kicked him back into the middle of the hall as Lisa punched her foe and together they pushed them out into the hallway together. Right into the line of sight of the two tanks.

"Take 'em Monty!"

"Thank you Lisa, eat lead Freelancers!"

Machine gun bullets ripped through the unfortunate soldiers immediately as Monty engaged with his coaxial machine gun. The two men fell from the wave of hot lead ripping them up and the battle was over. The Reds settled down a bit, still ready for a fight. It was at that point they noticed that there was another elevator next to the one the Freelancers had just come down. The group gathered around the door, weapons trained on the entrance and waited. Then, the light signaling the elevator was on its way down lit up and the group braced themselves. It took a painfully long time for the elevator to reach the ground floor from wherever it was coming from. Then, the bell went off in a pleasant dinging noise and the door hissed open, revealing a white clad technician with his back turned and holding an upright gurney facing away from them. He seemed unaware of the danger that he was in and began to back out with the gurney in tow. He made it out into the lobby before he turned around and saw the gathered Reds.

"Don't move," Carmen hissed at him.

But right at that moment another technician came flying out and crashed into him, knocking both unconscious. The Reds looked into the elevator curiously and saw the black figure of Tex walking out holding the keys to the handcuffs on her wrists as she unlocked them and let them rattle to the ground. The Reds finally figured it out and walked over as Tex began working on the person on the gurney in the main lobby.

"Took you guys long enough to get here," a familiar voice said.

"Well excuse us, we were only having to fight our way through a whole city!" Sarge replied testily.

"Either way, it's good to see you guys," Tex responded getting the last of the restraints off of Church who stepped down off of the gurney and stretched out as he got used to not being restrained any more, "Where're the others?"

"Underground, looking for the Director."

"Alright, let's go!" Church said, grabbing the first assault rifle he found and started off towards a stairwell leading below ground.

"Wait a minute," Carmen said, "What about the tanks?"

The Reds all stopped where they were, those tanks had been the whole reason they had made it as far as they had and they would still need them if they were to make it any further. There had to be a way, and they would find it.

"Okay, see what you can do," Tex relented.

The Reds immediately fanned out and started looking around the area they had been in to try and find a way to get the tanks below ground. Sarge and Carmen found exactly what they were looking for in a locked closet with a sandbag wall around it. After kicking in the door Sarge cleared the room and Carmen walked in after him and saw the large crate sitting next to the door. In the open top stood several packages of high explosives, enough to bring down the building.

"Sarge, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Carmen asked, grabbing one of the explosive blocks and testing its weight in her hand to be sure she wasn't having some kind of dream.

"Oh this'll work. Come on, help me with this."

The two of them dragged the box out into the lobby and started working on their plan to get the tanks to the underground levels where they would have the advantage with those tanks on their team. The other Reds helped out along with Doc who left the care of the injured 4-7 to Courtney and Vic.

"Are you sure this'll work?" Grif asked testily.

"Of course I am," Sarge said, planting the first of the charges in a solid circle around the tanks.

"Actually mate I see only a ten percent chance of success and a ninety percent chance that you'll fucking blow us all to kingdom come!" Monty retorted.

"Oh be quiet and stay still Monty," Lisa said, placing the detonator in the black of explosive.

"This had better work Corporal," Kate said quietly with an element of fear in her voice.

"It will, don't worry," Carmen said excitedly placing the last charge.

They all walked around the corner to make sure they wouldn't be caught in the blast from the powerful bomb that had just come out of Sarge's messed up but brilliant mind. They all put their hands over their ears and Vic covered 4-7 with his equally fragile armor in an unnecessary move to protect her.

"You realize you're doing neither of us a favor?" Four Seven teased.

"Who said I was doing this for your protection?"

"Aww…" Donut cooed.

"How sweet," Kate added.

"Uh oh," Sarge, said, "Grif I forgot the detonator, you'll need to activate it manually. This is your chance to prove yourself to me. Now go out there and die in a massive explosion."

"Actually you didn't," Tex said, waving a detonator in her right hand.

"Oh…silly me, here I'll just make sure that it works real quick. Grif go in there and tell me if the TNT goes off," Sarge said innocently.

"Hold on, Liz, go with him will ya?"

"What!? Why me?"

"It pays to have multiple observers."

"Fire in the hole!" Tex said, jamming down the button and exploding the ordinance in a cacophony of noise and tidal wave of dust.

Kate immediately ran to check on the tanks to see if there was anything left or if they had succeeded. She was followed by the rest of the team, including their wounded but still able to walk, comrades who really wanted to see if Sarge's plan had succeeded. When they rounded the corner all they found was a smoking wreck of a room, all the items in the lobby were wrecked beyond recognition and the only thing still in good condition were the tanks who simply scanned the area surprised they hadn't been sent to tank heaven where they'd live together with their ancestors. But no, there they were, still operating.

"God dammit," Sarge growled, walking over to the area he'd laid down the TNT and scratched his head in confusion as to why he wasn't seeing a hole straight to the bottom of the building.

"It's alright, it was a good plan," Carmen tried comforting Sarge, she herself disappointed.

"You okay Corporal?" Lisa asked.

"Oh I really wanted this to work."

"Would insulting me help?" Liz asked sarcastically.

"Oh shutup you damn cunt."

"See? Better right?" Liz said, poking her superior a little.

"A little."

Sarge walked to the center of the room between the tanks and the rest of the team followed him into the blast zone. They had all wanted this to work, but now they were back to square one. And now they had exhausted a lot of explosives and to no result, yet.

"This is a really strong floor," Sarge growled, stomping on it, but when his foot hit the deck they all heard the groaning and cracking of the floor finally giving way, with them on it. In a single instant they went from being standing upon an exploded floor to passing through several layers of floors and levels, crashing all the way through as dust fell all around them as they fell, smashing through to the very bottom level of the building. They finally landed in the very bottom of the building, crushing several stacks of crates and hitting lopsided, sending them all flying into the ranks of at least a dozen Freelancer soldiers, who fell as the Reds landed on top of them. Fires raged around them from the sudden collapse of part of the ceiling and the more powerful explosions of fuel and ammunition around them added fuel to the fire and gave the cavern an orange glow, which Sarge hated immediately.

"What the Hell Reds?" Wash yelled from behind them.

"You said break shit!"

"Well it's time to break some more shit dudes, the Director's aboard that ship!" Hawaii yelled as he ran and joined the Reds who were in the middle of the fight of their lives. Bullets flew everywhere as Reds, Blues, and rogue Freelancers fought it out to reach the open hanger bay of the ship not a twenty yards from them. The tanks fired a thundering volley at the soldiers between them and their objective rolling forward with the Reds and Blues on their sides advancing as fast as possible, sliding down behind crates and boxes to stay in cover as they drove the Freelancers back. Fire raged as the tanks crashed through destroyed vehicles of all types and they rolled on, firing their cannons with relative impunity until they reached the hanger bay entrance, just as the massive engines aboard the ship fired up. The Reds took the lead charging up the ramp behind Sarge, firing as they went, with the Blues covering them. They ran into a nearly empty bay and quickly cleared it out, killing or wounding the Freelancers who rose to face them. The rest of their team rushed to join them just as the doors began to close, the tanks themselves barely made it into the Frigate and that's when things got real intense and really interesting.

"Move into the ship, we need to make it to the bridge!" Tex ordered, locking and loading her BR.

"Split up, we'll need to gain control of the ship if we're to win this and come out alive," Wash ordered, "Reds, take the engine room and back up control room. Blues take care of the primary weapons systems and navigational computer."

"Freelancers, on me," Tex said taking the lead, "We're going after the Director."

In a sober moment the teams decided what they needed to do, they would split up into their usual teams, away from the ones they had come to love for the sake of the mission. They each quietly and one-by-one said their good byes and began the last push, the final fight, and they knew that one way or another it all came down to this. Their successes to this point would mean nothing if they failed now, and that was not the thing that they wanted to do for their final act. To come so far only to be killed or beaten in the closing acts. But they had too much to lose, and too much to gain and they would never allow themselves to fail. They swallowed their pain from their injuries, their nervousness, their fear. They had a job to do.

"Good luck," Carmen said to Sarge, trying her best to keep her composure in the face of such possibilities.

"You too."

The Reds took off without much else said to one another and they took off into the depths of the ship, unaware of what they would have to fight to accomplish their objective. They knew what they would have to do and they would do it or die trying.

"Move up," Sarge said sidestepping his way into the hall leading directly towards the engine room where the Reds could gain control of the power grid to the ship's vital systems. Simmons and a limping Grif walked in behind him aiming their weapons down the hall while Donut and Lopez aimed their weapons to the rear, keeping tabs on their six. The team moved quickly, not stopping for anything, but didn't run into a single hostile.

"It's too quiet, I don't like it," Sarge grumbled.

"Quiet's good, quiet means we're not being shot at," Grif responded limping to a door frame where he kneeled down to take cover as they made it to the main engine space where the massive fusion generators powering the vessel would be, along with all the operating components for the engines and minor systems.

"_The orange is right, we have made it this far which means there might not be any enemies to fight_," Lopez said, not looking back to his comrades.

"I know Lopez, it does feel like a trap," Simmons responded.

"_That is the exact opposite of what I said."_

Moving towards the large hatch Sarge and the Reds stacked up as they'd been trained and prepared for themselves for whatever they might have found. The ship vibrated as it powered up and took off, escaping the atmosphere through a hatch in the park where the concrete parted and the vessel soared out, leaving behind a city in turmoil as the Freelancers evacuated frantically, caught off guard by the sheer size of the forces arrayed against them. Pelicans and luxury craft rose from the city filled with Freelancers and their soldiers as they evacuated as fast as possible from the losing battle.

"Let's do this," Sarge said, jamming the button that opened the hatch with a hiss and rushed in with a gallant war cry. He stopped his war cry as suddenly as he started it. There was no one there at all.

"What the?" Simmons said.

"_Told you_," Lopez said, walking over to the nearest control panel and started tapping in command codes to gain control of the ship's systems.

"Buenos dias," a menacing voice called out from the shadows of the engine room.

"Uh oh," Grif said, holding his rifle carefully.

The Reds backed up against one another as they settled into the fact they were in the sights of someone they did not want to be in a bad spot for. They carefully scanned the area, being especially vigilant as they waited for the inevitable fight against this shadowy figure.

"Let's make this interesting Reds, how about we shut off the lights?" the voice called again from the depths of the engine room.

Just like that the Reds were plunged into darkness as their stalker shut off the overhead lights, forcing them to now use their only other tools, flashlights and motion trackers. Light pierced the dark as they fought back the dark and turned on their lights on their helmets and weapons. They could hear the hum of the reactors and the loud noises of the engines and something else entirely.

"Footsteps," Sarge whispered quietly turning in the direction of the disturbance.

"Yeah, he's circling us."

"Sarge…I…I'm scared," Donut said trembling.

"Hold it together Donut," Sarge hissed, not turning to acknowledge his team mate's outburst.

"You should be scared," the voice said again.

"Wah!" Donut screeched, firing frantically all around him as he spun about in panic. As he did that the rest of the Reds started firing as well, raking the area with bullets, buck shot, and shrapnel. Sparks flew everywhere as the Reds fired in a panicked craze at anything that moved.

Finally, after the barrels of their weapons steamed gasses from the expended rounds they all remembered to breath normally and started to look around, what they found made their skin crawl, a man in jet black armor wearing an old GUNGIR style helmet stood there in front of Donut wobbling back and forth as the Reds stared at him. His armor glistened with the sheen of blood from multiple strikes from bullets of all sizes and when Sarge walked toward him with the other Reds by his side the man just dropped to his knees and fell in front of him. Sarge and the other Reds kneeled down next to him as they heard him gasping and holding up a small gray data device.

"Reds, I'm sorry," the man wheezed, "I'm sorry for what we've done to you all of you. Here," he placed the data in Donut's hand, "this'll tell you where the other Reds and Blues are. There's not much time until they…"

The man gasped one last time before he finally went limp and died right there in front of the Reds. Blood pooled all around his body and licked at their boots as he just bled out, his armor unable to compensate, even in his death.

"Sarge, what did he mean by that there isn't much time?" Simmons asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that this'll tell us."

"Uh oh," Grif said looking at a screen, "Sarge what does 'Losing AG' mean?"

"That means Artificial Gravity dumbass, oh shit."

"_Not my fault it was you idiots' _fault!" Lopez responded locking his boots to the deck.

Red Team Two

The very instant the red lights began blinking the girls began floating. They'd had an easy go at getting to the back up control room without even having to fight a soul, it seemed as if the ship was deserted. Then this had happened.

"What the Hell?!" Carmen screamed as she twirled in the air, waving her arms and legs frantically as she free floated up and began banging against the walls and ceiling and floor like a ping pong ball.

"Weee!" Kate said spinning gracefully in the air like a ballerina.

"This is not the time for that Kate!" Lisa said desperately grabbing a hold of something solid on the wall to steady herself.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Liz grumbled as she floated upside down through the hall.

"Come on, we have to get to the control room," Carmen ordred finally orienting herself and shoving her way awkwardly towards the end of the hallway. Her team slowly followed her, but it took a while before they got their bearings and moved off towards the large hatch in front of them where a pair of soldiers were waving their arms frantically trying to right themselves while not paying attention.

"Open fire!" Carmen ordered, seeing the helpless enemies.

But it was not the smart thing to do, she fired off her powerful shotgun but immediately began twirling as she continued towards the Freelancer soldiers with her team right behind her. They too fired and fell under the same fate. The whole team began twirling and spinning as they rocketed towards the hostiles who had been hit immediately and blood now floated in tiny orbs from their suits and the door opened when one of them hit the switch opening it and allowing the four Reds inside. They came flying in at unbelievable speed crashing through glass, soldiers and bouncing off control panels. Chaos reigned as the group found itself in the middle of a chaotic pure Newtonian battleground. Glass and shell casings flew everywhere along with the battling soldiers who flew, twirled, and spun in all directions firing as they went.

Carmen blasted every human shape she could put her shotgun anywhere close to and hit several soldiers with extremely lucky shots that ricocheted as well, catching equipment and hostiles and friendlies in the crossfire. Blood now freely floated as the Reds fought hard, shoving, punching and dueling ferociously against an equal opponent that they had no idea how to fight. But the battle lasted too long for the Freelancers, and the group finally got their bearings. Liz and Lisa landed side by side, and started carefully aiming their BR's and firing carefully timed bursts that killed the majority of the enemy they aimed at. The last soldier was basically barrel shoved by Kate who was still flying around aimlessly and when the man lunged at her he found the barrel of her rifle accidentally in his visor. It went off and a spray of blood spouted from the back of the man's helmet as Kate accidentally squeezed the trigger and went flying the other way this time.

"Control Room secure, kinda," Carmen said over the radio to the other teams.

Blue Team Number One

The Blues hadn't really had any trouble so far, but being only three of them they were able to move quickly, especially since Sister had been badly hurt and Doc wouldn't let her out of his sight. But the three men made it to the unguarded Navigational Core which held a plethora of information they could draw on if they were investigating something, but they were here to sabotage it so that it couldn't jump anywhere they didn't want it to. So as soon as the team got there Junior, Tucker, and Caboose locked the door and Church latched his magnetic boots to the floor and went into ghost mode and melded with the main computer. He had a tough time, in fact he couldn't make any progress at all. Something seemed to be blocking him. He pushed against the firewall even harder, and thenn continued to push until he found a seam and parted it. He blasted through it and finally found exactly what he was looking for, Navigational Control. He smiled and thought of any number of places they could go that he had heard about and remembered. But it was one thing that had stopped him. He saw that there was a file hidden in the depths of one of the subsystems that he had seen earlier but ignored. But now, he decided to investigate. He dove into it, tearing apart the meager security measures in place and dove right in. Inside, he found a recording, a familiar recording. It sounded like the Director, but he was saying the exact words that the Chairman had said to he and the others at the Camelot Station. Then it hit him, the UNSC hadn't betrayed them, the Director had tricked them into coming to the planet without support, it was an attempt at capturing him and Tex! He realized that he had been a fragment of a smart AI, but had developed, now he was a full blown Smart AI, he had developed the very aspects that made a Smart AI 'Smart.' Which meant that there was a way to harvest the memory fragment repeatedly because stored in it was the makings of a Smart AI, that was what the Director had been after, he wanted to clone an army of smart AI to equip his army.

Taking matters into his own hands he over rode the previous settings for the ship's FTL and plotted in a new one.

Blue Team Number Two

"It's about time we got here," Lea mused as they arrived at the group arrived in the large weapons control room that was, unbeknownst to them was filled with a several gunners that the group immediately noticed before the Freelancers noticed.

"Freeze!" Jenny yelled before the fighting started.

Everyone, including a large agent in green and yellow armor threw up their hands in surrender as the Blues aimed their weapons at the Freelancers.

"Everyone, against the wall now!" Sergey yelled, moving towards the Freelancers with BR raised, "Rachel got on the control panel."

Rachel immediately rushed over to the panel where the master arm button was and started typing in commands that she had the help of FILSS to decipher as she plugged her in as a way to accelerate the process. But her face went ghostly pale at the realization of what the Frigate was armed with and where it had its weapons aimed.

"Warning, nuclear ordinance has been loaded into launch tubes. Countdown has started," FILSS said over the radio.

"WHAT?!" the Blues yelled, terrified.

"Do something," Jenny pleaded.

"I am unable to."

Rachel thought for a moment before she took her shotgun, cocked it and yanked FILSS from the panel and aimed her weapon.

"NO!" Lea yelled hitting the weapon as it went off into the floor next to the panel.

"It might work," Jenny said in Rachel's defense.

"And what if it doesn't?"

Rachel ignored that last outburst from Sergey and fired a single blast into the panel, catching it on fire and making sparks fly from the panel in showers.

"Launch aborted."

Rachel smugly smiled and walked back to a panel where she would be able to shut the weapons of the ship down.

"Show off."

Rogue Freelancers

"Ready?" Tex asked the three other Freelancers.

"Born ready babe," Hawaii said coolly.

Wash nodded grimly and Alaska nodded.

"Let's do this Tex."

Tex took a deep breath a jammed the button down, opening the doors slowly. Through these doors bullets came pouring through, and the team waited, then threw in a pair of smoke bombs. The mixture of chemicals ignited a loud bang and an instant wall of smoke oozed out as they heard the coughing of the soldiers inside.

"Alaska, go!" Tex ordered.

Alaska nodded and rolled inside and drew her knives, slashing at the completely uncoordinated soldiers in the bridge. She immediately cleared the area and in ran Wash and Hawaii who finished off the rest of the soldiers with quick double taps to the head. Soon the smoke cleared revealing the one man that had been the cause of all their pain, suffering, and sorrow. Here was the Director.

"Well, I suppose I should surrender?" the man said, holding his head high.

"I suggest you beg for your life!" Hawaii said, aiming his weapon at the Director's forehead.

The man looked like he had been through Hell. His clothes were matted and dirty from endless hours of work and tireless toil through night and day. He eyes showed gray bags from a severe lack of sleep and his hair now turned gray at the sideburns along with a two day beard that made him look not like the prim and proper bastard they had made him out to be but a tired old man. But his posture was tall and proud, and his own pride still held his mighty ego aloft.

"It's been too long since you've had to learn your lesson Director. For too long we've been your puppets, your slaves!" Alaska yelled.

"After all I did for you, after all I sacrificed, this is what I am rewarded with?" the Director asked, a little hurt.

"After what you did to me?!" Wash said, quite pissed off, "After what you did to the Reds and the Blues?! What did you ever do for them?!"

"Ah yes, the Simulation Troopers, they were the only ones that made this all possible. They are the reason that I find myself in this predicament, aren't they?"

"You're damn right," Tex replied.

"I see," the Director said, "Will you shoot me or turn me in Agents? Either choice is fine with me. I've done my part."

"I say we turn him in," Church said over the speakers of the Bridge.

"Church?!" Tex yelled.

"Yeah you might want to take a look out the window, wait hold on it's closed let me get that."

The team turned to look at the metal doors of the glass bridge open up and they all turned to see the bright shining blue and green world that was their new location, Earth. A fleet of ships descended upon them as they watched the ship draw closer to the planet and numerous tugs raced alongside and latched onto the vessel and started to tow it towards the nearest shipyard where it would be boarded.

"I see that I might be spending more time in a cell."

"Yes you are you piece of shit."

One Week Later

The Reds and Blues and Freelancers stood to attention before the crowd of UNSC brass as a man announcing their heroic actions spoke aloud. Each of them wore the Red and Blue dress uniforms of the Red and Blue Army with the highest awards for valor pinned to their chest. The Freelancers wore the black dress uniform of the Office of Naval Intelligence after being brought into Section Three for classified operations. They stood proudly as the crowd of confused on lookers holding news cameras and scanners watched the ceremony with a curious expression as these seemingly mystery men and women saluted the Admiral of the UNSC Fleet, Admiral Hood.

"Thank you, all of you. IF there's anything you need don't hesitate to ask. I'll take care of it."

Immediately Sarge spoke up.

"Sir."

"Yes Sergeant?"

"Sir, we want to go back to the way things were. Just us against the Blues."

The Admiral looked at Sarge in a confused manner and then nodded.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you sir."

"Dismissed," the Admiral said proudly and the gathered Reds and Blues walked off with one another.

"What are you guys gonna do?" Church asked.

"We're gonna head to a bar," Grif said.

"Same here," Tucker replied.

"Oh can I come too?" Caboose said, stopping his fingering of the large shiny medal on his chest.

"As long as you promise not to destroy the building like you did the last time we were in a bar."

"Okay," Caboose said holding Rachel's hand as he dragged her along.

The Reds and Blues walked off together, until they spotted the black uniforms of a group that had a history with one of their own. Before anyone could stop them they stepped up to Caboose and stopped the whole group.

"Hey Blue boy!" the ODST's growled.

"We have a bone to pick with you," another said as he shoved Rachel aside.

Caboose's eyes grew dark with a pent up rage. The whole group stepped back as Caboose clenched a fist and began to get angry once again.

**BIG Z: It's done, at last.**

**Tex: That was awesome!**

**Vivian: Oh yeah. What a closer. Caboose getting mad. Everyone knows what's going to happen here.**

**BIG Z: Thank you everyone. After all this time this story has catalogued well over 13,000 views! All thanks to the loyal readers who read and reviewed this story. Once again thanks and happy reading. And Just so you guys know. There will be a sequel coming out the same day this one came out. I need to be consistent about these things. **


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